Local People, Strengths & Solutions

Sooke Mayor Maja Tait, the City of Victoria’s Lisa Helps and 19 year-old Saanich councillor Ned Taylor are calling on the Capital Regional District to formally declare that we’re  in the midst of a bona fide climate emergency and that urgent, accelerated policies are required to make the region carbon neutral by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2030 benchmark for action.

As Ben Isitt, chair of the CRD’s new Parks and Environment Committee states here, members of the public are welcome to speak at the Jan. 23 meeting at which the trio’s report (reproduced in full below) will be heard.

“Should the Capital Regional District declare a Climate Emergency? We have 11 years to reduce GHGs by 45%…if that’s not an emergency I don’t know what is.

The Capital Regional District (CRD) Parks and Environment Committee will be considering a Climate Emergency Declaration on Wednesday January 23 at 10:00 am at the CRD Headquarters, 625 Fisgard St, 6th floor boardroom.

We are encouraging as many as people as possible to sign up to address the committee and encourage directors to adopt the resolution, as a first step toward meaningful climate action. You can sign up at this link and will have up to 4 minutes to address the committee (listed on the form under “Environmental Services Committee”, and you can specify the meeting date of Jan 23 and the agenda item “Climate Emergency Declaration”)

DEADLINE to sign up to address the Committee is January 21 by 4:30 pm using the link above.”

Here’s the submission from Tait, Helps and Taylor in full … 

“REPORT TO PARKS AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
MEETING OF WEDNESDAY JANUARY 23, 2019

“Forget that the task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was possible only after you are finished.”  ~ Paul Hawken, author and entrepreneur

SUBJECT Climate Emergency Declaration 

ISSUE
To provide background information on the current climate emergency identified in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in October 2018, the actions taken by other local governments around the world in response, and to outline what we think the CRD should do to seize opportunities – economic, social and environmental – and to avoid the astronomical costs to taxpayers in the region that will result from inaction.

BACKGROUND
In October 2018 the IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, described the enormous harm that a 2°C rise in global temperatures is likely to cause compared to a 1.5°C rise. The report outlined that limiting global warming to 1.5°C may still be possible with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities. Everyone has a role to play.

In response to the IPCC report, cities in the UK including Bristol, Manchester and London England have declared climate emergencies and are accelerating their paths to carbon neutrality. Bristol’s resolution is the most ambitious. Its full council calls on its Mayor to:

1. Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;

2. Pledge to make the city of Bristol carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3);

3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;

4. Work with other governments (both within the UK and internationally) to determine and implement best practice methods to limit Global Warming to less than 1.5°C;

5. Continue to work with partners across the city and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies and plans;

6. Report to Full Council within six months with the actions the Mayor/Council will take to address this emergency.

A number of other cities around the world have also declared climate emergencies, including Berkeley, Oakland and Santa Cruz in the United States, Ballarat and Vincent in Australia, others in the United Kingdom. As of now, no city or metro region in Canada has declared a climate emergency.

Cities and metro regions are particularly well-poised to take action and we have motivation to do so. On the one hand, cities and metro regions worldwide are responsible for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, cities and metro regions are centres of innovation able to implement quickly and have much to gain economically, socially and environmentally by taking action.

Michael Bloomberg, billionaire, philanthropist and former Mayor of New York City shares a key insight in Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses Can Save the Planet.“ He realized quite quickly after he became mayor “a central truth that the national debate about climate change got wrong: What was good for people and job growth was good for fighting climate change.”

Bloomberg goes on to write: “Trees and parks give people opportunities for recreation and relaxation and they also suck carbon and soot out of the air. Strong mass transit connects people to job opportunities, and also reduces traffic and air pollution. Bike lanes connect neighbourhoods and help improve public health, and they al help keep cars off the streets by giving people a safe alternative. Energy-efficiency measures save consumers money and clean air while also shrinking the city’s carbon footprint. Most of the things that make cities better, cleaner, healthier, and more economically productive places also reduce carbon emissions.”

Clear in Bloomberg’s work and in all other writings on cities and metro regions and climate change is that fear is not a motivator nor is “saving the polar bears.” A key responsibility of local governments in British Columbia, according to Section 7(d) of the Community Charter is “Fostering the economic social and environmental wellbeing of its community.” Taking serious climate action is the best long-term way to protect and enhance the well-being of our residents economically, socially and environmentally.

The CRD has long been a climate leader. According to the CRD’s website, “For more than a decade the CRD and its partners have been providing leadership on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for climate change impacts. Addressing climate change means fundamentally re-thinking many of the big questions: where we live, how we move, what we eat, where our energy comes from, and what a changing climate will mean for life on southern Vancouver Island. Every action and decision has a climate impact – either locally or globally.” And Climate Action is once again emerging as a key strategic priority for the board through the strategic planning process, as it was last in the last term.

We as a region are dealing with some of our most difficult transportation challenges to date. It is important that as we address these challenges we show our commitment to doing so in a way that will reduce emissions.

We are in a new reality. Bolder leadership is needed in the post-IPCC report world.

The Parks and Environment Committee recommends to the CRD Board: 

* That the Capital Regional District Board declare a Climate Emergency;

* That the CRD take a leadership role to work towards the achieving carbon neutrality in the region by 2030;

* That the Board Chair write to all local governments in the region requesting that they also declare climate emergencies and commit to working towards climate neutrality by 2030;

* That staff be directed to submit a Letter of Intent for the $1 million Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions Theme Partnership Program by the deadline of February 15 2019, to address the question: “How can the Capital Region achieve carbon neutrality by 2030?”

* That the CRD Board Chair write to the Provincial Minister of the Environment, assert the CRD’s support to help the Province close the 25% emissions gap in the CleanBC Plan, and call on the Province to provide the powers and resources to make the Region’s 2030 target possible;

* That the CRD Board Chair write to the Federal Minister of the Environment, assert the CRD’s support to help Canada meet its Nationally Determined Contribution target made in the Paris Agreement and call on the federal government to provide the powers and resources to make the Region’s 2030 target possible.

ARGUMENTS YOU COULD USE TO VOTE ‘NO’ TO THIS RECOMMENDATION

“We can’t possibly become carbon neutral by 2030; we don’t have enough information.” 

Mayor Helps met recently with the Director of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) at UVIC. PICS has recently launched a funding program to help accelerate climate action. Grants of $1 million are available to “connect top researchers with policy and industry leaders to develop climate change solutions for British Columbia and beyond.”  Mayor Helps asked, “Is ‘How can the Capital Region achieve carbon neutrality by 2030?’ a good research question?” The answer was an enthusiastic yes. The funding application is, of course, a competitive process; PICS staff have offered to work with our staff to assist in developing the Letter of Intent, due February 15th.

“It’s going to cost too much.”

The CRD’s own research, “Climate Projections for the Capital Region,” (2017) documents the impacts of climate change on human health, rainwater management and sewerage, water supply and demand, tourism and recreation, transportation network, ecosystems and species, buildings and energy systems, and food and agriculture. Each impact will have a correlative cost. The more we work now to mitigate climate change, the less the costs will be in the longer term.

The Stern Review: Economics of Climate Change makes this case very clearly. Using the results from formal economic models, the Review estimates that if we don’t act, the overall costs and risks of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5% of global GDP each year. If a wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, the estimates of damage could rise to 20% of GDP or more. In contrast, the costs of action – reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change – can be limited to around 1% of global GDP each year.

“This is a distraction from the real work that we need staff to be doing.”

The largest single contribution to greenhouse gases in the region is transportation, fully 50% of our emissions. Solving the transportation in the region also rose to the top of the Strategic Planning agenda for the board. This is just one example of how the work that we need staff to do anyways will also allow us to decrease our emissions as a region. As Bloomberg, quoted above notes, increasing the health and quality of life of our residents and the strength of our economy is also good for reducing emissions.

“Taking action on climate change doesn’t align with my politics or ideology.” 

We turn once again to Bristol for inspiration. Bristol City Council has 56 members. They voted, unanimously, across party lines, to endorse the resolution outlined above. Conservatives, Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour members all voted in support. Creating a strong, prosperous low-carbon economy and enhancing the health and well-being of residents is everybody’s politics.

CONCLUSION

We have an opportunity as a board and as a region to take leadership in British Columbia and in Canada. We hope that the Parks and Environment Committee and the CRD Board will vote unanimously in favour of these recommendations. Our research demonstrates clearly that taking action is the lowest cost, most prudent and also most inspiring way to proceed in an era where the scientists have given us 11 years to help create a sustainable future.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Parks and Environment Committee recommends to the CRD Board:

~ That the Capital Regional District Board declare a Climate Emergency;

~ That the CRD take a leadership role to work towards the achieving carbon neutrality in the region by 2030;

~ That the Board Chair write to all local governments in the region requesting that they also declare climate emergencies and commit to working towards climate neutrality by 2030;

~ That staff be directed to submit a Letter of Intent for the $1 million Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions Theme Partnership Program by the deadline of February 15 2019, to address the question: “How can the Capital Region achieve carbon neutrality by 2030?”

~ That the CRD Board Chair write to the Provincial Minister of the Environment, assert the CRD’s support to help the Province close the 25% emissions gap in the CleanBC Plan, and call on the Province to provide the powers and resources to make the Region’s 2030 target possible;

~ That the CRD Board Chair write to the Federal Minister of the Environment, assert the CRD’s support to help Canada meet its Nationally Determined Contribution target made in the Paris Agreement and call on the federal government to provide the powers and resources to make the Region’s 2030 target possible.

Respectfully Submitted,

Director Lisa Helps, City of Victoria 
Director Maja Tait, District of Sooke
Director Ned Taylor, District of Saanich 

A New Years greeting from TS co-president Bernie Klassen ahead of our monthly meeting this Wednesday night, 7 to 9 p.m., at Harbourside Cohousing, 6669 Horne Rd. in Sooke’s town centre. Everyone is welcome to attend in heeding Bernie’s urgent call to action.

“Happy 2019 to everyone on the Sooke Transition Town mailing list!

2018 was a busy year in Sooke. From the Planet Earth Party: Sooke Region Earth Day Celebration back in April, through issues around transit and pipelines, to the municipal elections, where we made a real difference, we had a heck of a year. Everyone in Transition Sooke needs to take a moment to reflect and, yes, to give ourselves a pat on the back for a job well done.

The Transition Town movement was born in Totnes, UK, only 13 years ago as a way forward in the face of peak oil (which petroleum scientists figure has come and gone, regardless of propaganda to the contrary), and climate heating. Transition Towns have accomplished a great deal, even in the face of government inaction and corporate push-back.

But 2019 dawns in the shadow of two new reports ~ the US Fourth National Climate Assessment and the IPCC Special Report 15 (aka “An International Panel on Climate Change Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty”). Both detail the horror-show we knew was coming and now, has already begun.

The IPCC report points out that “pathways limiting global warming to 1.5°C with no or limited overshoot would require rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure (including transport and buildings), and industrial systems. These systems transitions are unprecedented in terms of scale, but not necessarily in terms of speed, and imply deep emissions reductions in all sectors. If we followed these pathways, we would have clear emission reductions by 2030.”

2030. That’s only four thousand days away.

We are not on track for those “emission reductions by 2030.” Not here in Sooke, not provincially, not nationally. Not even close. And, according to the Special Report, we are already at 1.0°C of global heating—and we have to hold heating to 1.5°C or less. So business as usual means runaway global heating likely within the lifetimes of those now born.

We have a meeting coming up on January 9. And at that meeting I know that I would like to hear fresh, bigger ideas, new ways forward. This town we love has to become sustainable and we have about 4,000 days to get that done. We also have to think a bit bigger in how we get our provincial and national governments to get off their collective rears and start making hard, significant changes to the way we live our lives.

We’ve done a lot—more than we think we have. But the gun is here and we are under it. We need fresh ideas, fresh faces, fresh energy. Let’s start thinking about how the changes we need are going to happen.”

(image credit: Global University Network for Innovation)

Happy 2019 to one and all.  Our first meeting of the year is set for Wed. Jan. 9 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Harbourside Cohousing in downtown Sooke.  As TS co-president Michael Tacon notes, “The meeting is open to all members and anyone else who is interested in making a difference in these challenging and troubled times. We are looking forward to a productive and significant year of activity around Sooke.” Learn more about our directions moving forward in our minutes from recent meetings.

Two happenings of note to anticipate early this year …

* The Transition Sooke Book Club returns for a second season of informal, friendly and lively discussions of thoughtful books focused on contemporary issues. First up on Wed., Jan. 23 is Cherie Dimaline‘s novel The Marrow Thieves.  The top-selling Canadian novel of 2018 is a timely and necessary cautionary tale set in a near future much like our world today with the addition of some grim elements. It will be followed by Solomon Northop’s Twelve Years a Slave (Feb. 27) and Michael Pollan’s Food Rules (March 27).  Each session will run from 6:30 to 8 pm at the Vancouver Island Regional Library – Sooke. Titles have again been selected by our book-club founders Paula Johanson and Bernie Klassen.

* Our annual Awareness Film Night co-presentation on Wed. Feb. 13 in the EMCS Community Theatre (7 pm, admission by donation) is director Astra Taylor‘s National Film Board of Canada production What Is Democracy?  ~ a good choice given proportional representation’s third strike here in BC last month.

As the NFB website puts it: “Taylor’s idiosyncratic, philosophical journey spans millennia and continents: from ancient Athens’ groundbreaking experiment in self-government to capitalism’s roots in medieval Italy; from modern-day Greece grappling with financial collapse and a mounting refugee crisis to the United States reckoning with its racist past and the growing gap between rich and poor. Featuring a diverse cast—including celebrated theorists, trauma surgeons, activists, factory workers, asylum seekers, and former prime ministers—this urgent film connects the past and the present, the emotional and the intellectual, the personal and the political, in order to provoke and inspire. If we want to live in democracy, we must first ask what the word even means.”

As Winston Churchill put it: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…

See how folks like Harvard University’s Cornel West, former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and activist Silvia Federici, the co-founder of the International Feminist Collective, put it in this 2018 documentary by a Winnipeg-born musician, activist, author, and filmmaker.

All welcome to this public brainstorming event as our Sooke Region Multi-Belief Initiative fields input and ideas for a Sooke Compassionate Action Plan.

Saturday, October 27, 1 to 4 p.m

Sooke Baptist Church, 7110 West Coast Road, Sooke. 

Bring your ideas and energy as we identify key local social issues, look at how they’re being dealt with in the Sooke region … and then hone in on practical ways to tackle them further as a united Sooke region community.

This open-space meeting is the important first step in the development of a realistic, achievable Compassion Action Plan (CAP) for Sooke. Please contact the SRMBI’s Mark Ziegler (markziegler@shaw.ca) or Donald Brown (donhbrown@shaw.ca) to confirm your participation, or if you have any questions or comments. The SRMBI is a collective of caring individuals who share in common a belief in the golden rule. It is not a religious or political organization.

Much is already being done by individuals and organizations on such issues as homelessness, social isolation, community engagement, harm reduction, and other critical matters impacting youth, adults, families and seniors in the Sooke region.

The goal of the afternoon will be to identify as many as five key priorities that we as a community might want to tackle collectively with specific actions tagged to realistic timelines.  Under the direction of facilitator Michael Tacon, co-chair of Transition Sooke and a founding member of the SRMBI, the afternoon will unfold as follows:

i) Brief context-setting presentations from four speakers:

* Constable Sam Haldane, Sooke detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police;

* Kim Kaldal, president of The Sooke Food Bank Society

* Sherry Thompson, co-founder of the Sooke Shelter Society

* Jonny Morris, Director of Planning and Strategic Priorities for the BC Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association

ii) Attendees will then join breakout groups to develop lists of local issues and/or projects that a Sooke Compassionate Action Plan might address;

iii) Collectively discuss and identify which of these issues/projects should be included in the final CAP plan;

iv) Create specific activities (with time lines and resource requirements) through which community associations and agencies would work to implement the plan.

This Compassionate Action Plan will be subsequently submitted to Charter for Compassion International along with all else the SRMBI has been doing as we strive to secure official recognition for Sooke as a Compassionate Community.

We will also request that the document be incorporated within Sooke’s new Official Community Plan.

“We look forward to your participation in this important and ambitious workshop,” says Ziegler. “Building on the exceptional services provided by volunteers and service groups throughout our caring community, Sooke can join Victoria, Nanaimo, Parksville, Powell River and 400 other cities and towns around the world officially recognized as Compassionate Communities.”

Breach of Trust: Indigenous Rights and the Future of the Site C Dam

A thought-provoking evening with Amnesty International Canada‘s Craig Benjamin, Julian Napoleon from Saulteau First Nations, and Sarah Cox, author of Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand Against Big Hydro (UBC Press).

A timely follow up to our Sooke Justice for the Peace evening with the Peace Valley Environment Association‘s Ken Boon in the spring that we co-presented with Rolling Justice Bus.  Special thanks to newly arrived Sooke resident Lily Mah-Sen for making the evening possible.

Admission free or by small donation to cover modest event costs.

About the speakers:

* Sarah Cox is an award-winning journalist who specializes in energy and environmental issues. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines, online publications, and provincial and national newspapers. Breaching the Peace is Sarah’s first book and tells the inspiring and astonishing story of the farmers and First Nations who fought the most expensive megaproject in BC history and the government-sanctioned bullying that propelled it forward. She lives in Victoria.

* Julian Napoleon is Dane-zaa/Cree from the Saulteau First Nations in Treaty 8. He recently moved back home to Moberly Lake after completing a Biology degree at UBC. He is dedicated to his role as a community hunter and fisher-person. As an uncle to many youth and children in his community, Napoleon carries the responsibility of passing on the traditional subsistence practices and cultural protocols of his people. He is also working closely with his nation on various food sovereignty initiatives.

* Craig Benjamin is an Amnesty International Canada campaigner for the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) in Canada. A non-Indigenous person currently living in Mi’kmaw territory in Nova Scotia, Craig is honoured to have had the opportunity to work alongside Indigenous activists from across Canada and around the world.

About Breaching the Peace (UBC Press)

“In the pages of this book, we read of the shameful litany of excuses offered up for government failures to uphold Treaty 8, respect human rights, and protect the environment. Federal officials pretend it is out of their hands and up to the province. The Horgan government now asserts it is hamstrung by the money already invested by its predecessors. Indeed, the overarching calculus comes down to money. Too expensive to turn back, says Premier Horgan. But the truth really is that he and all other political leaders before him have been unwilling and unable to accept their responsibility to treat the Peace River Valley and its people as something more than a resource to be exploited for the benefit of the rest of the province.

And as goes Site C and the Peace River Valley, so goes the rest of the country. Too expensive. Too entrenched. Too cowardly. Too short-sighted. Sarah Cox tells us a story that points to a history that defines more than 150 years of failure to respect the rights of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in Canada. She shows us how failing once again to commit to reconciliation is also inextricably tied up with disregard for the rights of non-Indigenous families and communities and the prospect of devastating environmental destruction.” ~ Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada from the foreword. 

“This is a necessary book, truly a parable for our time.” ~ John Vaillant, author of The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness

“Sarah Cox has written a great book. Not only does she provide searing insight into how Site C developed, she does so through the eyes of the people most affected by it…a must read.” ~ Marc Eliesen, former president and CEO of BC Hydro, former chair and CEO of Ontario Hydro, and former chair of Manitoba Hydro

“Economic logic fails, a valley is inundated, and treaty rights are set aside in pursuit of political power: that’s the story of Site C.” ~ Harry Swain, former chair of the Site C federal-provincial review panel

Our 2018 Mayors’ Candidate Forum is set for the EMCS Community Theatre on Wed. Oct. 3 from 7 to 9 p.m. It will follow the same format as a session hosted by Transition Sooke in 2011. Each of the three candidates has been sent a set of questions prepared by Transition’s board of directors that reflect the organization’s own concerns and those of the community at large. Candidates will appear on stage together. In a rotation to be determined by a draw made by MC Michael Tacon at the start evening, they will answer these same questions as posed in person by two of our former board members, Yvonne Court and Mark Ziegler. They’ll have two minutes each for answers. Following a break at approximately 8:30 p.m., time will be allowed for questions from the audience. All welcome, no admission charge. 

For the record, here are our 15 questions:

1. How can we effectively control growth and ensure that the values enshrined in our Official Community Plan (OCP) are respected and maintained?

2. The principal of “Smart Growth” is integral to the OCP. What does Smart Growth mean to you? Do you see smart growth revitalizing downtown Sooke? What else, if anything, is needed to “fix” the downtown core?

3. What have you already done personally to reduce your carbon footprint?

4. A mayor is in an excellent position to lead by example. What would you personally do as mayor to encourage others to use less energy? To recycle, reduce, re-use? 

5. The Transition Town movement recognizes that individuals and communities want to be authors of their own stories — hopeful, active, and connected rather than despairing, passive and cynical. What would you do to encourage hope, civic participation, and a sense of belonging in Sooke?

6. How might you promote growth in quality of life rather than in dollars and cents

7. Localization: We are hearing more and more about the importance of local economies. i) How do you plan to kickstart local business and ensure more people who live here also work here; and ii) Should the District take a position on encouraging independent, locally-owned businesses and discouraging the arrival of more chain businesses?

8. Local and sustainable procurement policy.  A sound municipal procurement policy should include a variety of criteria for evaluating bids. One might be “locality” (that is, a consideration of whether the bidder is a local enterprise). Another is “sustainability” – for example whether the bidder uses recyled products. Would you agree to review Sooke’s procurement policies with a view to including locality and/or sustainability as considerations in evaluating bids and purchasing materials?

9. The Official Community Plan includes a commitment to “thriveability.” What does that mean to you, and how would you encourage thriveability in Sooke?

10. A safe, walkable community is essential in encouraging people to get out of their cars. Walkability is also important as we build a more densely populated downtown in Sooke. What steps will you take to improve walkability in the town core?

11. On a similar note to question #10, what would you do to encourage cycling and improve cycling safety in Sooke?

12. Cosmetic pesticide ban: BC municipalities have the right to ban the use of “cosmetic” or non-essential pesticides (i.e., the use of pesticides to enhance the appearance of lawns and gardens) within their borders. Would you support such a bylaw in Sooke? (It is Transition Sooke’s view, shared with the Canadian Cancer Society and many reputable, peer-reviewed scientific studies, that pesticides pollute our streams and harbours and endanger the health of people, pets and wildlife).

13. Food Security: One measure of a community’s resilience is its ability to feed itself.  Our local nonprofits Sooke Region Food CHI and the Sooke Farmland Trust promote farmland protection, regional food security and a vibrant, locally grown food economy. What might the District of Sooke do to promote and support these critical objectives? What new initiatives are possible?

14. Please share your knowledge of how the District of Sooke is working towards carbon neutrality, developing a clean, renewable-energy economy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

15. Traffic Congestion: Polls indicated that this is the number one issue for Sooke residents. What steps are being taken — and might be taken — by the District to deal with congestion on our main roads and in residential developments? How would you encourage the mode shift from cars to other forms of transportation?