Hornby Island does it, so can we! The idea is simple - create a designated place for people to drop off useful items for other people to take home, for free. Yes, it requires a little bit of management to make sure our community spaces don't get over run with old computers, but this can be a great way for people to get stuff they need, and to reduce waste going to landfill.

Fernwood, in Victoria, has a little gazebo in their neighbourhood square to drop stuff off. Montreal has the legendary ongoing, city wide, garage sale. And Hornby Island has the free store - a thrift store, run by community volunteers, where everything is free!

An expensive city, living in vancity is particularly prohibitive for young people trying to get off to a good start. But we want them, and we need them. Finding ways and places to help them stay will also make a more compact, dense and green city.

So offer them an early pension loan for up to 12 years, provided that they’ve graduated from high school. Tax-free and the equivalent of current monthly cpp payouts, accessing the option means assigning post-age 65 cpp earnings for equivalent period of time. If they really want to, they can work too, but no pressure. They’re going to have to work until they’re 80 anyhow, so why not get them off on the right foot, and enjoy retirement while they can? To do so, the city issues a municipal bond, guaranteed by future cpp earnings that have been assigned by youth pensioner.

Will require hiring a few actuaries (green jobs, mind you), but will help ensure that a lot more youth can afford to live in Vancouver. Working less also means emitting less.

Several jurisdictions have developed formal pre- and post-procurement engagement strategies in order to create a dialogue between public procurers and local firms. A pre-procurement consultation process at which procurers broadly outline expected future growth areas gives local firms a focus for research as well as a time horizon for development. The procurer in turn benefits from the most up-to-date information on emerging technologies and best practices. This type of engagement and information exchange can also help with early identification and resolution of issues around permitting or licensing, and can actively engage technology developers and suppliers in meeting the City’s climate leadership targets.

Vancouver like London attracts people from around the world Where London has produced zoning that helps preserve its historic "buzz" we need to produce zoning that preserves our "rain forest" appeal . An eco zone is a modified existing zone (eg. RS1eco, RM1eco ,etc) that is given preferential treatment because of exceptional green practices, these could entail, urban farms, passive solar or passive certified homes. Eco zoning is incentive based, -additional sq footage, or minimum lot size reduction, green house gardens for commercial or personal), green innovation relaxation (eg, allowing wind turbines or large scale water collection (+500gallon) under ground tanks for grey water use.

The eco zone would promote and encourage but not impose or require residence to subscribe to the zone.

(Eco zones would help promotes media coverage of Vancouver's sutainable greening)

I've had the opportunity this week to interview several businesses in the Strathcona area who are already taking moderate to extreme action toward decreasing their own footprints. They buy and manufacture their products locally, they build green roofs, they go to Climate Smart to learn how to track and reduce their footprint, they participate in by-product synergy exchanges, they provide incentives to their employees to ride bikes to work, etc. These businesses are making these changes because it is the "right thing to do", and because they are preparing for what they anticipate the realities of business to be in the near future. Many of these actions do not save money for the business owners, and in some cases, can actually increase their costs.

However, for each of these forward-thinking businesses, there are dozens more who will not or cannot afford to make these types of changes because it's the right thing to do. These are the businesses that we must motivate to make changes through the provision of multiple incentives.

For example, many businesses would like to put in green roofs, but they don't have the capital required to upgrade the infrastructure of their roofs to make this possible. If the City can provide grants for these upgrades, we will see a lot more green roofs in the Strathcona area.

If we can make it easier and more rewarding for businesses to take actions toward sustainability, they would be able to sell their goods and services at prices comparable to those of unsustainable products, creating a huge spike in demand for sustainable goods and services.

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 attract green business to attract capital and jobs for their local economies. With one of the largest cleantech businesses communities in North America, Vancouver is positioned as a leading centre of green economic development, investment and job creation.

From waterfront station tunnel underground to YVR then the line would follow parallel to highway 99 and then follow the I-5. Traveling an average speed of 250 km/hr you could reach YVR in 3 min at 4.10$, the border in 14 min, Bellingham in 23 min at 29.00$, Everett in 46 min at 58.00$ and finally Seattle in 57 min at 71.63$..... Imagine the possibilities of being able to travel to from downtown Vancouver to Downtown Seattle in just under an hour. Not only would this create green jobs, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it would also show Vancouver leading the green revolution.