SUSTAINABILITY

@ a glance

No one ever said the 21st century was going to be easy. And now - with our fiscal uncertainty, gas shortages, and feasible affects of climate change - we know why. None of these are reasons to hide from the forefront of change and wait for others to introduce solutions. But all of them are reasons to wake up and smell the coffee. To invest in alternatives immediately so that one day we are in the enviable position of being genuinely prepared, and able to assist others as we quickly regain our losses through the use of new social, environmental and technological initiatives. There is no reason to wait, especially when we live in a city bordered by the elements and filled with innovation, passion, science, and ambition.

There's a lot we can do instead of just talking. Most of the following ideas also fit into various other components of my platform, including environmental, transporation and housing commitments.

- Reduce the city's reliance on oil by legalizing low-speed electric vehicles and encouraging local dealers to offer a large selection of alternative-energy cars.

- Create a pilot program of public AC and 'rapid charge' outlets at public lots or designated parking for electric bikes, scooters, and other vehicles.

- Eliminate the use of foreign, commercial bio-diesel in city maintenance fleet vehicles.

- Support the creation of an integrated local bio-fuels program using purely recycled oil from restaurants, wood chips from mills, composted organics and waste treatment bi-products.

- Create bill of expected standards for self-sufficiency in energy and water in new development, to be achieved through the integration of private solar panels, wind mills, rain basins for gray-water use and geothermal heating.

- Legalize and encourage homeowner use of recycled gray water through dedicated systems from taps and showers to practical applications like laundry machines' first cycles and outdoor taps for gardening, car washes, etc.

- Mandate specified times for primary lights in unused spaces such as offices to be shut off, and for alternative security measures to be taken such as infrared cameras or motion-sensing lights.

- Encourage public electric energy generation through tidal, solar and wind power and support local research of potential innovations (ie: power-sequestering from the use of exercise machines, vehicle brakes, drainage turbines or household heat)

- Introduce City Hall's multi-faceted recycling program to more locations and ensure that unofficial bottle collectors have easy access to recyclable containers via dedicated bins.

- Ban plastic bags and disposable plastic water bottles from retail outlets and encourage more public-water dispensers and fountains.

- Provide all city employees with non gas-reliant manual tool alternatives such as push mowers, rakes, hand-drills and trimmers for use when possible, and keep statistics on their gas and oil usage.

- Support transportation initiatives using existing rail and train infrastructure for multi-regional commuting.

- Contribute to funding of light-rail transit for inner-city travel.

- Reserve land outside city limits for park and ride-style operations.

- Establish community gardens at every community, recreation and education centre in the city with support from community allies and volunteers.

- Reward local agriculture and local businesses using local supplies through tax or in-kind service incentives.

- Create a new location or zoning definition for urban farming to allow the sale of produce from property in the city and offer tax incentives to local producers.

- Consider replacing individual blue-boxes with collective bins for reduced transit to and from recycling facilities.

- Expand the CRD compost pick-up pilot demonstrated in Oak Bay and View Royal into the Victoria region.

- Create more commuter-centric trails and cycling routes.

- Offer compensated consultation sessions and workshops for homeowners on ways to increase household efficiency.

- Use a sustainable communities development approach to drafting new strategies with neighbourhood associations and NGOs.

- Commit to preserving public greenspaces for designated years and only consider replacing parkland when an alternative location is of greater size/envornmental value and has been identified and successfully zoned before the re-zoning of the original site.

- Re-introduce the community blue-bike program or similar shared transportation initiative with added safety and security features.

- Draft basic composting requirements for restaurants and provide services to assist with this added responsibility.

- Ensure grocers have programs in place to use unsold food for charitable purposes or composting.

- Consider the London, UK model of charging extra gas-guzzling vehicles driven without reasonable justification an extra tax and support car-share initiatives to offer larger vehicles for towing and hauling requirements.

- Offer all civic supplements including meeting agendas and minutes in electronic format, via the internet and immediately at meetings through Bluetooth broadcasts, messaging or USB sticks.