GC 2020
657 results found
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Stop UBC sprawl
We need to curb UBC's master plan for unsustainable urban sprawl! We don't need another city centre at the farthest reaches of Point Grey and at the cost of clear cutting precious local forest. UBC should refocus its undergraduate teaching facilities at downtown and other central sites (and on-line) rather than encourage further commuter traffic (and need for mass rapid transit) across the city. UBC is greenwashing its unsustainable and evergrowing preoccupation with real estate development!
60 votes -
More green space in East Van
With the city's push to densify East Van, plans should also be made to add green space like parks. The Kensington are is already under serviced as far as recreation facilites and parks. Before you shove more people in, put more green space in!
60 votes -
Ensure all malls and public fascilities have recycling systems in place
I have worked retail in a number of malls and I was horrified by the lack of recycling options there were for the paying tenants. No bottle/plastic recycling, sometime no paper. Tenants would often have to pay for this service.
Implement the same recycling programs available to homes, we can not exclude rental/commercial properties if we have any intention to becoming a more sustainable community.59 votes -
Ban woodstoves through by-laws
Wood-burning fireplaces and stoves can emit substantial amounts of air pollutants (mostly particulate matter). Health Canada reports that the health-impacts of wood smoke include: eye, nose and throat irritation; headaches, nausea and dizziness; and it can cause or worsen symptoms for people with asthma or respiratory problems. The CIty could update its building code so that woodstoves are not allowed in new home construction or limit permitted appliances to advanced combustion technologies only.
58 votesCity of Vancouver is considering the possibility of a ban for all new residential construction. This idea is considered in the draft Greenest City Action Plan.
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Captain Planet : Vancouver Edition
Hey. remember that TV show Captain Planet? (if not, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Planet_and_the_Planeteers) Remember that the TV show was awesome? We need to create a live action Captain Planet, set in Vancouver. Cue Planeteer "hub and spoke" power. Cue Planeteer " ALR" power. Watch them face off and duke it out against our modern day Hoggish Greedlies. You love it.
58 votes -
Materials Reuse/ Exchange Program
Similar to the Industrial Materials Exchange Program, small businesses and the public will be able to log into a database to list materials (such as packing paper, bubble wrap, shelving units, etc.) that they would like to give away for free before they are forced to throw it away. Using this principle of community-resource-exchange, our company was able to reduce their waste dramatically. The success of such a program will dependent on the promotion of it to the public and small businesses. Maybe a database and already popular site such as craigslist would be interested in a collaborative effort in…
57 votes -
Protect Urban Farming by changing the laws that get used to shut it down
Five years ago I moved to Vancouver and started turning the house I rented with friends into an urban farm. But a neighbour (one, out of dozens) thinks food gardens belong in the back yard and used the city's vague and undemocratic "Untidy Premises Bylaw" to have us ordered to remove it.
If Vancouver really wants to be green, it should start by looking around at the amazing things that ordinary people are already doing to make it that way and stop putting up barriers to their work. This bylaw needs a specific exemption for food gardens, or it needs…
56 votesThe draft Greenest City Action Plan includes a review of relevant bylaws that enable or inhibit urban agriculture.
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Community sharing
Provide infrastructure for equipment sharing amongst neighbours, such as tools, lawnmowers, and other device where we don't need one more per block.
55 votesThis idea has been included in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan. We encourage neighbours to get together and develop project ideas.
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Congestion Pricing Downtown
Price motor vehicles entering the metropolitan core. Congestion pricing will reduce the number of motor vehicle converging on the Downtown every morning, and will make lane re-allocations and pedestrianised streets an easier process due to reduced demand for road space.
54 votesThe City supports the idea of road / congestion pricing, and bridge tolls are one possible implementation. A regional (as opposed to a downtown or city) approach might work best, given travel behaviour, patterns of movement, and jurisdictional issues. This lies outside City jurisdiction, so our role is limited to advocacy; changes to Provincial legislation are required.
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Tax meat, milk and eggs & stop subsidizing
United nations, World Watch Institute and numerous high profile climate experts have all agreed that animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the entirety of the transport sector. Yet our government will not stop subsidizing meat, milk and eggs making them "affordable" beyond the capacity of our ecosystem. We need to start taxing these products and stop subsidizing them for the sake of our future.
54 votesEcological footprint impacts of different food choices form part of the data gathering; examining the City’s regulatory and policy tools to encourage lighter footprint living is included as an action.
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Cap on transit fare increase
Provide Translink with subsidies as long as they agree to place a cap on transit fare increases for the next five years. This way, taking public transportation remains to be an affordable option for the masses to help decrease carbon emissions.
53 votesTransit fares fall outside City jurisdiction, and there are multiple factors to consider. It is important that prices are affordable and equitable; at the same time, fares are an important revenue source for TransLink. The draft Greenest City plan will include directions to advocate for new sources of funding for improved transit (e.g. congestion pricing, vehicle levies).
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granville island foot bridge
If there were a foot/bicycle bridge slung underneath the Granville Street Bridge, it might encourage those that are driving from the West End to simply walk. As well, this would provide a an interesting circle walk around the east side of False Creek. The foot bridge could just go from the board walk to the island. It would need stairs, but could also have a pair of counter balancing elevators for those on bikes or handicapped. Heck, for extreme green fun, perhaps the elevator could be power by a small tidal generator in False Creek
53 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!
52 votesThe 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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Change traffic laws on bikeways
Now that we are investing in improving our (already mostly amazing) separated bikeways, it's time to change the laws on them to reflect the reality that riding a bike is different from driving a car, and the rules of the road were made for cars. I am tired of explaining to people who have never ridden a bike in the city why it's not feasible to stop at every stop sign, esp when they are quiet 4 way stops, at the bottom of a hill, etc. There seems to be a backlash among drivers that cyclists are out of control…
52 votesThe City recently began implementing 30-km/h speed limits on local street bikeways.
Other measures may require changes to provincial legislation. In these cases, the City’s role will be to advocate for appropriate changes to the legislative framework around cycling.
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Ease the bureaucracy for laneway homes in Van. Dense living where we work, play, shop! Less sprawl!
Laneway homes are beautiful, sustainably designed, detached family or single life dwellings. They fit into areas with houses and neighbourhoods that already exist. They take the place of old poorly used garages or unused back gardens. Less freeway traffic to get to the city; less pressure on our agricultural land reserve; less urban sprawl out into the valley.
51 votesExploring ways to facilitate and remove barriers to achieving our green & density goals
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Make Vancouver a Mecca for Green Technologies, Innovation and Jobs
Make Vancouver a global destination for companies to develop and demonstrate emerging clean energy technologies, green transportation systems, energy efficiency solutions, water technologies, green building technology etc. by encouraging, facilitating, procuring and enabling projects to happen in Vancouver rather than other cities.
Solving the world's energy problems, curing our addiction to fossil fuels, reducing waste and ensuring access to fresh drinking water are all contributing to the creation of a new green economy is now valued at more than $5.2 Trillion. This is one of the fastest growing markets in the world and cities around the world are scrambling to…
50 votesA strategy in the Draft Greenest City Action Plan is to give economic development priority to green sectors, and develop a green technology centre and network, along with other specific infrastructure and demonstration projects.
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Adopt an empty lot. Fill an empty bed
Too much space in Vancouver lies fallow, artificially inflating demand for new construction, threatening farmland and driving up the cost of living. Oblige occupancy of vacant property and utilization of vacant land for urban agriculture, art or public greenspace.
50 votes -
local food production, vertically!
verticle farming can feed a whole neighbor hood in one city block!!
http://www.verticalfarm.com/designs.htmla glass skyscraper that is designed as a climate controlled environment that can grow food of all different varieties,
vertically.
weather hydroponic or soil medium, plants are hung vertically against the windows.
check this link!
makes so much sense!
less space used in this multi-leveled complex, and not subject to bad weather!
check this link above for designs !49 votesThis idea is not in the draft Greenest City Action Plan but may be contemplated in other areas of City work.
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install many many more public washrooms
Install Many Many More Public Washrooms ... no this idea is not off topic! There are so few public washrooms in Vancouver that it’s a barrier to walking, biking and taking transit even for people with mature, healthy bladders, let alone when one considers the needs of Seniors and parents with young children. With the the paltry offering of public washrooms, who can reasonably view this City as transit and alt. car friendly? The ready access to washrooms is one reason people plan car trips to Shopping Malls and Big Box retailers rather than walk, bike or take transit to…
49 votesGood idea! In the past few years, the City has installed 8 of 16 self-cleaning toilets as part of its street furniture contract with CBS-Decaux, and is looking for additional locations. (As an aside, locating them can be challenging due to limited public sidewalk space, a lack of utility connections, and concerns from adjacent businesses.) New public restrooms have also been installed as part of recent park upgrades. There is also a huge opportunity and need at transit interchanges, but this is outside the City’s jurisdiction — Vancouver has repeatedly requested (and will continue to ask) that TransLink install restrooms in its rapid transit stations.
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Demolish Sears and replace it with a big green plaza
Downtown Vancouver lacks a central open space where people come first rather than cars. The green spaces that exist are all boxed in by cars on all sides. This creates an uncomfortable, noisy environment where nobody wants to stop and hang around.
Right in the middle of this, we have the Sears building: a gigantic, bland eyesore that is mostly empty. It blocks the view between several heritage buildings and adds to the claustrophobic feeling of downtown.
If Sears is demolished, an enormous space opens up from Vancouver Block to the Art Gallery. This could be modeled into a huge…
48 votes
