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How can we reach our 2020
Greenest City Targets?

GC 2020

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47 results found

  1. Green Events Guide for all city and community events

    Many cities have green guides for all events that take place within their boundaries. Some have embedded it into policy and groups running events must abide by the city requirements. Let's follow suit and get to zero waste.

    1 vote
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  2. Encourage Community Groups

    Facilitate meetings at all community centres in the city that give neighbours an opportunity to meet and discuss topics relevant to their communities. This will support community involvement and decision making.

    8 votes
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    This kind of work is already underway all over the City, much of which is led by community organisations. Find one in your neighbourhood, or one that works on issues that you care about, and join in. This action plan includes building supports (e.g. tools, resources) to support community groups in talking about, and working toward, the greenest city.

  3. Celebrate Sufficiency

    Over-consumption is at the heart of many of our environmental problems. One way to induce a reduction in consumption is to celebrate our sufficiency. Sufficiency, in this case, refers to a sense of completeness or wholeness. If we feel complete, there is less of an inclination to fill our faces with stuff we don't really need.

    7 votes
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  4. 24 votes
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  5. Educate young: Add agriculture, renewable energy, sustainable development to highschool ciriculum

    Inspire the youth to take action and educate on the importance of sustainable living practices.

    26 votes
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  6. Encourage Influential People such as James Cameron (Avatar), to disclose impact of big corporations

    on the environment, and encourage change. James Cameron is the Director of the movie Avatar which had a message of how big corporations, Mining are affecting the environment and raping the earth.

    4 votes
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  7. Playing Movies Like Avatar, in Major Public Places, showing the reality & impact of big corporations

    Making the largest impact in the shortest time, can make the difference. Continue funding Movies like Avatar which expose corporate America's environmental habits, and showing them on large public movie screens and starting change from the top. Companies with thousands of employees and systems, should be forced to change there habits, to reduce there carbon footprint. Public awareness may force the change that might otherwise take years.

    4 votes
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  8. Create a Senior Citizen's Sustainability Advisory Panel to mobile seniors knowledge on sustainabilty

    Not sure that more degrees/planners is gonna make much difference...need solutions now...I say learn from the Cuban urban food production experience - they turned to the knowledge of all the seniors in Havana who knew how to grow food as most grew up in rural areas prior to revolution and then migrated to cities. WIthin 6 months, local seniors were teaching ourses at universities while the food geneticists and experts were in teh classroom learning how to do things without oil/fertilizer. There are many seniors in Vancouver who know how to grow food, fix machinery and make the most of…

    16 votes
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  9. Create a "Greenest Block in the City" award - winner gets a kickass prize!

    Modelled after Greenest Block in Brooklyn, where every block in Brooklyn competes to have the best gardens and grow the most food - friends in Brooklyn go nuts for this - lots of fun - winning block gets a great prize like street improvements from city - see"http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/08/presenting_the.php

    24 votes
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  10. Produce instead of consume

    A friend of mine told me his version of eco-tourism: "stay home and shallow breath." Being green means producing more than we consume. We need to think about this at home, in our occupations and in the community. I have a hard time imagining how Vancouver can compete with poorer cities where the people cannot afford to buy stuff and therefore have a lighter footprint. Even the most conscientious Vancouve bike rider can have their carbon footprint skyrocket when their air travel is calculated. But we can always try and there are lots of great ideas being put forth here!

    2 votes
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    This is an interesting take on reducing ecological footprint. Our research tells us that people respond better to positive messaging that activates and motivates them, and that is the likely tact we will take in our communications.

  11. Cultural Sustainability Ambassadors

    Vancouver has one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in Canada. Each cultural population responds to municipally-led sustainability challenges or requirements differently. In some ways, different immigrant populations have more sustainable living knowledge and experience than the mainstream Vancouver culture, in some ways they have less.

    The City needs to engage different cultural communities uniquely, determining which approaches work best for which cultures to ensure the uptake of sustainability initiatives -which approaches will be meaningful to which communities.

    Examples of this include identify existing social leaders in cultural communities (ethnic, income, age, ability, gender, etc.) and support them in order…

    24 votes
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  12. mindfullness in schools

    Whereas Climate change requires individual behaviour change and
    Wherease individual behaviour change is significantly enhanced by cultivating the ability for critical thought and the abilility to step back and question and
    Wherease these abilities are proven to be enhanced by practicing mindfulness (aka meditation, centering prayer, and many other labels), and
    Whereas some success has already been achieved by introducing mindfulness programs in Vancouver schools,
    Collaborate with the vancouver school board to introduce mindfuflness training in all grade levels across the city. This may include providing a financial incentive for the VSB to fully roll out the program.

    15 votes
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  13. Happy planet index

    Measure the city of Vancouver's green progess by the well being of its citizens and ecological footprint. www.happyplanetindex.com

    5 votes
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  14. printing

    Green up the Citys Print Communications - we know the city needs to communicate, let's do it smarter. Ensure that any communication vendors have been pre-qualified with a number of Environmental and Social minimum standards. Ensure that any print is done with leading sustainable practices, Carbon Neutral, Recycled paper, Zero VOC inks, with companies that actively support the communities social and green needs. Print Less, Print smarter.

    3 votes
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  15. Put a boom box on every corner

    Cuba - one of a handful of countries living within its ecological means - is also one of the world's top producers of arts, music and culture. Is there a relationship between creative production, sustainability and happiness? We think so. Imagine a Vancouver where one's daily experience was one of engagement, creation and production rather than consumption.

    2 votes
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  16. City university

    Degree granting inter-institutional relationship between the regions post secondary education institutions and municipal governments to study, research and solve our pressing city and regional challenges.

    732 votes
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    There is a Campus City Collaborative project in the early stages of planning, where all of the post-secondary institutions are working with the City and the VEDC to talk about movement toward the greenest city, with a focus on creation of green jobs.

  17. One city block: integrated waste pickup, resource sharing, back-alley commons, community building.

    Turn the back alley into a place for community building and sharing.
    -Consolidated garbage collection at each alley's intersection with main street, in order to reinhabit the space for different uses and minimize footprint of garbage pickup.
    -Share a lawnmower, garden implements, internet, cup of sugar, spare bikes, dishes, pots, BBQs, spare cot or car with your neighbours!
    -Provide a space for free exchange of goods.
    -Comunity garden, common building (arts, cooking, celebrations, gatherings, etc.), energy resources (ie. geothermal or solar power), strom water collection, grey water filtration (ie. "ecocells" on the property)

    90 votes
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  18. 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 votes
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  19. Neighbourhood "de-car-missioning"

    Neighbourhood collaboration to completely reclaim streets from cars to maximize existing space in support of community initiatives and collective resources; composting, gardens, water storage, outdoor ovens, etc. Encourages depaving and city beautification. Supports and encourages active modes of transportation.

    28 votes
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  20. Subsidies for Veggie Dining

    How about offering economic incentives for new vegetarian or vegan restaurants? Such as giving tax breaks, or subsidizing start up costs to encourage investment.

    86 votes
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