Editor:
This weekend I wrote a letter to the mayor.... but it wasn't our mayor — not yet. I wrote because I am excited to hear that all three North Shore councils will be looking at motions to further improve their building code requirements; even though I’m not a resident, this is still meaningful because I know my municipality is one of many that has often followed in their footsteps. We also know that this climate crisis will never be solved unless we all work together, and so far strong leadership has mostly come from people exactly like our council members — folks on the ground, listening to their neighbours and looking out for the needs of their friends and children.
As a scientist, I am honestly terrified by the way the fossil fuel industry and other corporate desires to continue making profits have trumped our human needs to make sensible changes that can cut down GHG emissions — especially when there are clear solutions that don’t heap more costs onto already struggling families and local economies. As a mom and a teacher, I have daily conversations with young people, and they are often discouraged by the lack of effective climate actions being taken by those in leadership positions. It means so much to all of us to know that there are some people who aren’t afraid to make the changes we need to decrease emissions right now and do our best to slow down the rapidly increasing rate of climate disasters.
I am also hopeful that all our councils will be open to making an even stronger statement by copying and strengthening this motion. One of the easiest things for this province to do to lower our emissions is allow a ban on gas hookups in new buildings; not only would it significantly bring down our GHG emissions, but the health impacts of using methane for cooking and fireplaces is now known to be just as bad as exposing your family to secondhand smoke. While we continue to rally support for this at a provincial level (a hard sell when Fortis is fighting us, as are all the LNG corporations determined to keep on raking in money from their toxic fracking wells), we count on responsive and responsible local representatives to help show that we can do this by requiring new builds to meet Zero Carbon Step Code EL-4, matching other municipalities like Saanich and Victoria.
This kind of leadership will have a domino effect and encourage those of us who want to bring these motions forward to neighbouring communities (including here in New West and the Tri-Cities).
I am so thankful for the work many councils have already done in helping set the pace for sensible, cost-effective decarbonization in B.C. I hope soon to be asking my North Shore friends to do the same as I am and be writing to my own mayor and council in support of them following in their footsteps with an EL-4 code requirement.
Maureen Curran
