In February of 2010, I attended a Sustainable Communities Conference in Ottawa. This is a summary of what was presented at that conference and a brief description of what some communities are doing to be more sustainable.
Day 1 Subtheme: Partnering to Deliver Community Sustainability.
The really important message that I got from this conference hit me on the first day and continued throughout the three days. People from large and small municipalities from all over Canada, from the Northwest Territories to Newfoundland attended this conference and all of them were excited about initiatives in their communities around Sustainability and how these efforts are creating better, healthier and more financially secure places to live.
This message came from a Keynote Address by Mayor David Miller.
“Cities are showing the world how” a quote from Bill Clinton. This was part of Mayor Millers message as well as a theme throughout the conference. The significant changes in world sustainability are being initiated in large and small communities around the world. We, in Bancroft, can make a significant contribution which would make our community healthier, better off financially and protect our natural environment !
Other messages include “All green projects create jobs”. Major savings and new jobs can be created by imaginative projects. As an example, Los Angeles has adopted a seven year program to replace all of their street lights to LED light bulbs. The savings in electricity from the bulbs replaced in the first year will fund the next years bulb replacement and so on until all light bulbs are LED. Once completed, the city will be saving 10 million U.S. dollars per year in electricity. What type of initiative could Bancroft make to save money and create jobs at the same time?
Toronto and Vancouver are both looking at projects to put insulation on large concrete and glass commercial buildings to save energy, reduce Green House Gas emissions and create jobs.
If Bancroft is to have a Sustainability Plan that will be useful to the Municipality and the Community to create a better place to live, we need to move towards a partnership of the Council, Town Staff and Community members meeting together, brainstorming together, and implementing together to make the plan work! Municipalities that are having success with this agree that good planning makes implementation easier. Having Regional involvement should be a goal.
Managing change means managing resistance. This includes education and input from everyone involved. There are many ways that communities are dealing with this. One community has developed a sustainability requirement for development. Any developer filing for a permit to develop a part of the community, must submit a sustainability plan with the permit application
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which shows how the development will benefit the community economically, environmentally and socially. If this cannot be substantiated, they do not get a permit.
These are some of the themes that I wrote down from this first day.
-“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used to create them”-Albert Einstein. Toronto is currently the most sustainable large city in Canada. They achieved this by changing the way that they were doing things. Vancouver has set a goal to be the greenest city in the world by 2020!
-“100% renewable is doable”
-Communities where the public are involved in decision making are the healthiest communities.
-One never stops learning about sustainability. A sustainable plan is never finished.
-“Do it because it is the right thing to do!”
-Cities must work with cities/ committees with committees.
-A lack of money is not a barrier- it is one facet of developing a plan to achieve a goal. The main value to make a change happen, is decisiveness and leadership.
Day 2 Subtheme: Economics of Climate Change: Protecting the Climate and Reaping Rewards.
What our energy choices are, says something about who we are. Currently, we are using polluting sources of fuel, controlled by a small amount of rich people, largely in the Middle East, telling us what is good for us. We can move from a position of powerless to powerful by producing our energy locally.
Ontario’s Green Energy Act has moved the province from a position of being behind the rest of the world to having the best energy policy in the world. North America can significantly reduce it’s use of fossil fuels by harvesting the sun and wind. "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait 'til oil and coal run out before we tackle that."- Thomas Edison
To lower GHG emissions, or to address other sustainable actions, you have to consider the social issues driving it, the economic issues causing it and the culture creating it to find a solution for it. The world is striving for climate neutrality and zero waste. What will Bancroft do to move in this direction? Our landfill and recycling initiative is a good start!
There is typically a planning-implementation gap in municipalities when trying to make their Sustainability Plans a reality. We must create a strategy for dealing with this. A systems approach will help.
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The GMF will support initiatives that improve air, water, soil quality or protect the climate.
Housing stock- We currently have:
-houses that are not energy efficient.
-houses that are not healthy.
-houses that are expensive to maintain.
-houses that do not work as a system.
The Ont. Building Code is changing that. Good plans treat the house as a system from the start with contractors, designers and the client planning together with the subtrades, to develop an energy efficient, healthy, durable house that works as a system.
Large and small businesses and corporations are becoming more sustainable for the simple reason that sustainability is more profitable. It simply makes good business sense. It is not because of the environment, social or cultural issues. It is economically more profitable.
We are moving towards a new economy that is:
-a low carbon economy
-has local supply chains
-depends on services
-using les material
-incorporates responsible consumption/thrift
A recent community sustainable plan in a community in Alberta learned the following lessons:
-have the right decision makers at the table
-have someone to coordinate the project
-have a sustainable consultant
-challenge conventional thinking
Day 3 Subtheme: Building & Measuring Resilient Communities: Reinventing Our Local Economy.
Canada is the second largest consumer of water in the world. It’s water flows either towards the US or the Arctic. We can not count on an infinite supply of water, even in our aquifer. Water conservation policies are needed. Most water used in Canada is not returned to the aquifer in a usable manner.
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Threats to water include floods and scarcity, breakdown of the infrastructure and climate change. Reducing our consumption of water and reusing grey and rain water, can reduce the amount of water that the Town has to treat, saving money, energy and resources.
The UN recommends an average water use of 50L per day. Canada averages 358L per person per day. Surveys show that we think that we use 66L/day. The concern of this seminar is that we do not recognize that our current use of water, will lead us to a shortage sooner than we think!
Waste is the product of poor design. We need to change our culture and our thoughts on producing waste, whether it is waste material or wasting water.
An excellent presentation was made by two women from Haliburton in a presentation on transportation in small rural communities. The presentation was about the walking and cycling trails that they have created with funds from the GMF. There is a strong initiative in Canada relating to walkable communities. The advantages are an improved social atmosphere, better health and fewer vehicles. Public Health is a supporter of this. GMF funding is available for green initiatives in transportation.
Possible initiatives for Bancroft:
1. Make a goal of being recognized for one aspect of Sustainbility. This could be a long term goal such as being a Net Zero community or a short term goal such as developing walking trails around town.
2. Our neighbor, Batawa has been accepted as a pilot project as a sustainable neighborhood development by Leeds Canada. They have the goal of being the most sustainable rural community in Canada. We could visit them to learn what they are doing and what mistakes to avoid.
3. Develop a plan for educating the community, town staff and councilors about what sustainability really is and seek input on how Bancroft can be sustainable. Create a BUZZ about being sustainable
4. Develop a community think tank/brainstorming to generate ideas for developing a green economy in Bancroft.
5. Develop a Green Building Resource booklet.
