GC 2020
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Collect fares before bus arrives
Between 3-5 minutes are wasted at each bus stop as the driver collects fares from passengers. Other cities, including Curitiba, Brazil, have implemented a system so that fares are collected before the bus arrives at the stop. The goal is get travel times by transit to be equal or faster than by car. Reducing load time at each stop will reduce travel time by bus.
9 votes -
Make It Mandatory That Asphalt Roofing Shingles Be Banned from Landfills (and recycled instead)
In the Vancouver region alone approximately 80,000 tonnes of tear-off roofing shingles are disposed of in our landfills each year! 80,000 tonnes means 160,000 barrels of oil used and 4.8 million tonnes of CO2 produced! This is unnecessary waste, and there is one company making a difference in this area that grinds up the shingles to be sold as binder in asphalt paving mixes and as fuel for kilns. To keep this huge amount of waste that could be re-used out of our landfills, the city of Vancouver should partner with this company by either purchasing grinders so the landfills…
19 votes -
Have a Vancouver gas tax, which the money would fund transit.
Have a tax on gas (and diesel) sold in Vancouver. Kind of like Montreal Island has. The money from this tax will go to fund public transit expansion projects and improvements.
9 votes -
Energy Descent Plan
Chair a city-wide committee to create a Vancouver Energy Descent Plan in order to develop a coordinated plan to reduce city-wide energy use by 2020.
10 votes -
planting
What is with the crazy lead photo on the Talk Green to Us page?
Is that a cement mixer spewing ready to eat crops (I see tomatoes ripe) into a box over pavement while a crew...does what?Realism about growing local food will get us there, having deep respectful collaboration with regional farmers, and a reciprocal relationship with the resources (nutrients as well as food) in the surrounding, protected, and arable lands.
5 votes -
improve solar access for food growing
Access to sufficient solar exposure is often the most challenging impediment to food production on an urban site. Trees and buildings can create shade in spots that would otherwise be ideal for growing food - the ones just outside the kitchen or front door.
As counter-intuitive as this may seem, the city's plan to plant massive amounts of trees for carbon sequestration will probably interfere with many existing food gardens, and many more trees that are nearing the end their life-span could be removed to create room for food production. An exemption favouring food gardens could be made within the…
9 votesSolar access is always a consideration when we search for local food growing opportunities, community garden space, etc.
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Encourage vegan options for all!
A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the ***** impacts of climate change, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management.
1,076 votesLow footprint food choices are not the same as vegan food choices in all cases, the analysis is more complex than this. Generally a low footprint diet is local, seasonal food, and limits consumption of red meat, dairy, and some grains. Low footprint food choices are included in the draft Greenest City Action Plan and will be discussed through community engagement activities.
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Get rid of the chlorine in our swimming pools and water supply. even the new 2010 pool has chlorine
get rid of the chlorine in our swimming pools and water supply. even the new pool by the nat bailey stadium has chlorine, even though the 2010 olympic buildings, of which this was a part, were supposed to be green. chlorine is NOT green.
12 votes -
Indoor farmer's markets and community garden spaces for winter months.
Create indoor farmer's markets and community garden spaces for winter months in order to support healthy eco-living and eating.
94 votesCouncil has worked with Farmers Market Society to locate a new winter market site at Nat Bailey Stadium. Garden sites an interesting idea, but would need more study.
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Green transportation hubs throughout the
EVs are coming and we're not ready. Putting infrastructure in place with high-speed charging that also hosts bike sharing, car sharing and green commuters will have a central place to plug in and recharge.
7 votes -
Treat our land and resources as sacred
Include First Nations and/or elders on ways to respect our land and resources that make them sacred. Defining a culture that connects our past to the present.
15 votes -
Free Door to Door Efficiency Upgrades!
Let's have teams of semi-skilled energy and water efficiency technicians provide at-your-door, free upgrade services. It's easy to be lazy when it comes to making our homes more energy and water efficient. Sometime we just need a kick in the pants!
The City could partner with BC Hydro, Terasen Gas, the water utility, and other utilities and energy providers to establish teams of people that take energy/water efficiency information and products door-to-door. The neighbourhood visit schedules would be advertized and specific visits could be requested by citizens.
Citizens would have a choice between products or could choose not to upgrade.…
11 votesNot free, but we are creating financing tools and incentives to increase affordability of these upgrades
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Organic, Fair Trade and Low carbon agricultural products
Promotion of Fair Trade, organic and low carbon imports. Why not take social and environmental responsibility for your consumption? People will always want an avocado, mango, a cup of coffee or tea on their tables. There are agricultural products that can not been grown locally, so why not import them but making sure they are low carbon, and that they are not harming our planet and its producers?
101 votesThe City has a procurement policy covering our own procurement choices that includes many of these issues; it is now being implemented throughout City operations. http://vancouver.ca/policy_pdf/AF01401.pdf
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compost street bins
To reduce smell and garbage, and can be picked up daily by volunteers or city works to be put in round about gardens or used in local parks
6 votes -
Regulate Marine Traffic Emissions
Emissions from marine vessel traffic are not regulated as strictly as emissions from land-based emitters. These emissions have been growing steadily in the Vancouver region. The city should push for stricter guidelines to ensure that measures implemented to reduce air pollution caused by cars and heating, for example, are not offset by emissions from marine traffic.
5 votesMarine traffic is under Federal jurisdiction. The City of Vancouver is supporting Metro Vancouver/Port Metro Vancouver to encourage shore-power.
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Thermal Depolymerization
I'm aware of the attempts to collect methane from landfills. But there is a better technology that will reduce waste entering landfills in the first place... Thermal depolymerisation. It is still a relatively fledgling - but proven - technology (14-ish years old) but worth looking into. http://www.changingworldtech.com/
This invention is recycling par excellence. It would mean a reduction of new fossil carbon into the atmosphere, with a superlatively effective reuse of existing biomass. It could also solve all the CH4 emission problems of landfills; in fact, farm waste, old tyres, landfills and sewage systems would become a resource.
I realise…
18 votes -
'Pedestrianize' Robson St. permanently (no cars) - or at least do a 6 month trial
Studies show that commercial streets (full of shops, cafes and restaurants) that have been converted into foot or bicycle traffic only, have dramatic increases in public activity and economic growth.
Do you know any other streets that would benefit from this? Leave your comment below!
55 votes10 comments · Travel predominately by foot, bike, and transit · Flag idea as inappropriate… · Admin →The draft Greenest City plan will include directions to explore pedestrian-only and pedestrian-priority streets in the downtown core. Potential locations will be identified at a later date (e.g. as part of the transportation plan update).
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Reduce peak electricity demand
Vancouver can be a model of a community that works together to reduce its peak electricity demand and thus the generation capacity needed to sustain it. It can do this through proper monitoring of usage in both residential and commercial buildings and financial incentives to reduce beyond savings on the bill. Make Vancouver a model, and once shown successful, this model can be expanded to other BC cities and beyond.
10 votesWe are working with BC Hydro on a variety of initiatives to reduce electricity demand and to identify alternative generation technologies.
Recommed you check out BC Hydro Powersmart – http://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/
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Let's be tolerant
I think "going green" necessitates a healthy level of tolerance by everyone.
Tolerance will not pit cyclists against car drivers, but will allow each their own choice while working towards the goal that is best for everyone. Tolerance will recognize different viewpoints with an understanding that others views are as important as your own.
Intolerance alienates others and if we continue to do this, our green objectives will never be met.
Let's work together!
6 votes -
Switch our power source from water (BC Hydro) to solar or wind
Reservoirs disrupt the natural water cycle, collecting dead biological material, resulting in massive amounts of carbon emissions, among other problems. And are NOT green. Let's switch it over to Solar or wind!
18 votes
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