Building a bridge to a greener future
Thursday, October 08, 2009
West Ender
For all its Pacific vistas and North Shore mountain beauty, Vancouver, in its relative youth, is just beginning to define itself as a green city. Mayor Gregor Robertson’s speech at the Vancouver Board of Trade Meeting on September 30 introduced a new “Green Capital” economic branding strategy to the city’s business community, which focuses on growth in Vancouver’s green-technology industry.
Earlier in the week, a group of local environmental advocates unveiled their plans for Bridge to a Cool Planet, a day-long festival on October 24 to commemorate the International Day of Climate Action, and to draw attention to Canada’s role in December’s international Copenhagen Climate Conference.
“We need the same kind of movement now that we had back in the day of the peace marches,” says Kevin Washbrook, Bridge to a Cool Planet organizer and director of the group Voters Taking Action on Climate Change. “This hasn’t happened yet for climate change and global warming in Canada. The government we have in Ottawa right now... they don’t feel compelled to act, and right now there isn’t the pressure on them to do so.”
While Washbrook is supportive of the City’s recent efforts to draw attention to our potential as a green city with its Greenest City Action Team and the Green Capital branding strategy, he says citizen support will be crucial for the City to move forward on its sustainability goals. “For the City to make those kinds of fundamental changes, they’re going to need public pressure from below,” he says. “They don’t operate in a space right now to say ‘We are going to make huge changes in how you live and work’ until they know that the public’s there.”
That’s the goal of Bridge to a Cool Planet: to garner widespread public support on action for fighting climate change. The day’s festivities will close Cambie Bridge to car traffic, with activities taking place on the bridge, along Pacific Boulevard, and on the Science World grounds. “This is an opportunity to remake society in a way that’s fair for everybody,” says Washbrook. That involves making connections between social issues, citizenship, and sustainability, he adds.
Ben West, spokesperson for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, one of the organizations involved with Bridge to a Cool Planet, says Vancouver is at a critical juncture in its approach to climate change. “We could be looking at a bridge to a cool planet, or we could be looking at a gateway to global warming,” he says. “This could be a place where we’re enabling the rest of the world to use more and more of our tar sands oil and do more and more coal exploration...or [we] could be a model for sustainability for the rest of the world.”
Part of the rationale for situating Bridge to a Cool Planet around the Cambie Bridge, West says, is to unite citizens in a place that geographically connects the east and west sides of the city, and ideologically joins citizens from diverse backgrounds. “It’s trying to look at not just ways of addressing climate change, but looking at addressing equity issues, social-justice issues,” he says. In regards to the City of Vancouver’s recent green branding efforts, West says it’s a start, but it’s not enough. “Vancouver can do a certain amount, but it really takes the province and the country and an international movement to make change.”
More information on Bridge to a Cool Planet can be found at BridgeCoolPlanet.ca
http://www.westender.com/articles/entry/building-a-bridge-to-a-greener-…
Earlier in the week, a group of local environmental advocates unveiled their plans for Bridge to a Cool Planet, a day-long festival on October 24 to commemorate the International Day of Climate Action, and to draw attention to Canada’s role in December’s international Copenhagen Climate Conference.
“We need the same kind of movement now that we had back in the day of the peace marches,” says Kevin Washbrook, Bridge to a Cool Planet organizer and director of the group Voters Taking Action on Climate Change. “This hasn’t happened yet for climate change and global warming in Canada. The government we have in Ottawa right now... they don’t feel compelled to act, and right now there isn’t the pressure on them to do so.”
While Washbrook is supportive of the City’s recent efforts to draw attention to our potential as a green city with its Greenest City Action Team and the Green Capital branding strategy, he says citizen support will be crucial for the City to move forward on its sustainability goals. “For the City to make those kinds of fundamental changes, they’re going to need public pressure from below,” he says. “They don’t operate in a space right now to say ‘We are going to make huge changes in how you live and work’ until they know that the public’s there.”
That’s the goal of Bridge to a Cool Planet: to garner widespread public support on action for fighting climate change. The day’s festivities will close Cambie Bridge to car traffic, with activities taking place on the bridge, along Pacific Boulevard, and on the Science World grounds. “This is an opportunity to remake society in a way that’s fair for everybody,” says Washbrook. That involves making connections between social issues, citizenship, and sustainability, he adds.
Ben West, spokesperson for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, one of the organizations involved with Bridge to a Cool Planet, says Vancouver is at a critical juncture in its approach to climate change. “We could be looking at a bridge to a cool planet, or we could be looking at a gateway to global warming,” he says. “This could be a place where we’re enabling the rest of the world to use more and more of our tar sands oil and do more and more coal exploration...or [we] could be a model for sustainability for the rest of the world.”
Part of the rationale for situating Bridge to a Cool Planet around the Cambie Bridge, West says, is to unite citizens in a place that geographically connects the east and west sides of the city, and ideologically joins citizens from diverse backgrounds. “It’s trying to look at not just ways of addressing climate change, but looking at addressing equity issues, social-justice issues,” he says. In regards to the City of Vancouver’s recent green branding efforts, West says it’s a start, but it’s not enough. “Vancouver can do a certain amount, but it really takes the province and the country and an international movement to make change.”
More information on Bridge to a Cool Planet can be found at BridgeCoolPlanet.ca
http://www.westender.com/articles/entry/building-a-bridge-to-a-greener-…