The Geography of Hope cont'd

I have decided that after the November elections I am going to give each new (or renewed) member of City Council a copy of The Geography of Hope. It's an inspiring and utterly practical book about how small projects will be how we reach our sustainability goals.

Vancouver is doing a pretty good job, but more can and should be done. New developments could be held to the LEED Gold standard, as has been proposed. The fleet of vehicles could be downsized and fully converted to biodiesel. Our system of bike lanes could be heavily expanded, with routes entirely free of cars. Translink could further increase bus access. And, from reading the book, some industries could collaborate on energy use/production to greatly reduce waste/expenditure.

I am excited to put into practice some of the ideas from the book, but don't have a focus. I live in an apartment building with a landlord that doesn't seem so open to ideas of spending to save on energy. I'm pretty sure we can't install a garden on our roof, or even solar panels. I wonder how much effort it takes to put up some solar panels and hook them into the circuitry of the house. Research, anyone?

I'm a tool. Solar energy on such a small scale is not worth it at all. Boo.

The Geography of Hope

So I'm still reading this book, and I'm finding these amazing little tidbits of information:

Walmart is the largest buyer of organic milk and organic cotton in the world.

Sweden has pledged to eliminate fossil fuels within its borders by 2020.

"Anything that exists is possible" is the mantra of Chris Turner, the author. All the technologies required to transform our economies and consumption habits already exist. An island of several thousand has reduced its fossil fuel footprint to less than zero. And so on into the future. I'll ask again: What can Vancouver do to become a truly sustainable city?

Re: architecture and the environment: "Bring ideological or aesthetic or symbolic principles to bear on design, certainly, but figure out, first, what the weather's like in May wherever you intend to execute it." 

Sustainable cities (July 24)

I am reading The Geography of Hope by Chris Turner, and I am getting pretty excited about our chances. Of surviving, I mean. He traveled the world looking for examples of existing communities/technology that can greatly affect how much impact we have on the planet, in terms of climate change. It got me to thinking about what Vancouver can do.

How "sustainable" can cities be? What does that vague word mean as it relates to how cities function, consume and regulate?

A few quick ideas:

1) Restrict pesticide/herbicide use. Simple, effective, free.
2) Switch city fleet to bio-diesel. I'm not sure how easy this would be, nor how far along Vancouver is.
3) Introduce/enforce "green" building codes, such as LEED.
4) Restrict automobile usage, or at least charge users more and put the money into beneficial programs. Annoying to consumers but necessary in the long-term.
5) and promote public transit usage. Right now it costs twice as much for two people to take the Skytrain to a Whitecaps game than it does for parking.

Edit:

6) Property tax refunds/breaks for alternative energy production (solar panels, etc...) and energy-saving measures (garden-roofs).