I attended a UBCM Climate Leaders Institute conference in Richmond on November 7 and 8. It’s certainly interesting talking climate change in a hotel that’s likely to be underwater by the end of the century (or sooner if there’s a big earthquake).
The key message I came away with was from David Miller (former Toronto mayor): Nations are deadlocked on climate change, so cities are taking leadership. But it’s a daunting challenge.
Since 1990 BC’s population has grown 30%, but the number of vehicles on the road has increased 70%. Road transportation is our fastest growing source of GHG emissions. One cause of this increase is demographic change. More and more urban households are aging couples or singles, while young families move out to more affordable rural and suburban zones.
Here are some interesting links and resources I came away with:
Climate Ready BC Public Engagement
Climate Ready BC wants to know how our changing climate is affecting residents and what we think needs to be done. They have an interesting questionnaire that’s open until January 10, 2020. You can also sign up for an email list to receive Climate Ready updates.
A Feb. 2018 investigation by the Auditor General on whether government is adequately managing the risks around climate change. (Hint: the answer is no.)
Global cities are working to reduce GHGs by 50% by 2030, and to zero by 2050. A lot of this is not directly relevant to a regional district, but initiatives the C40 is leading will have trickle down benefits for us, e.g. bus fleet electrification.
This is a national think tank on Clean Energy transition. They are looking into affordable housing renewal, i.e. retrofitting existing housing stock for energy efficiency, seismic upgrades and resiliency to extreme weather.
What are our unconsious biases?
These science-based Implicit Association Tests can help you identify your unconscious biases. Interesting and rather fun.