COUNCILLOR’S REPORT: APRIL 28, 2008

I attended the Municipal Sustainability Planning workshop presented by the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) as a pre-conference session for the Alberta’s Environment Conference, April 21-22, in Edmonton.

AUMA is actively promoting the idea of municipal sustainability planning MSP which it describes as “an opportunity for municipalities to look long-term at the communities they want and take proactive steps to move there. It is an opportunity to engage citizens in a dialogue about what they value about their communities and what they want them to look like in the future.” Sustainability is “meeting the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

The workshop itself consisted of a keynote presentation by the Executive Director of The Natural Step Canada which has been working with AUMA and Alberta municipalities on sustainability planning. The Natural Step website describes itself as:

The Natural Step Canada is a non-profit organization providing results orientated advisory and training services to help community and business leaders integrate social, environmental and economic decision making into their operations with a holistic, proven and scientifically-rigorous framework.

The Natural Step offers eLearning courses in sustainability and the AUMA has an agreement for a discounted price of $85 for the course (it is normally $120).

The AUMA’s toolkit on municipal sustainability has used features of The Natural Step’s process and added to it, so that the framework consists of five pillars or dimensions for municipalities to engage around: Economy; Governance; Environment; Society; and Culture.

We heard presentations from each of the five pilot communities that were funded by AUMA to under MSP: Town of Olds, Village of Thorhild, Village of Chauvin, Town of Claresholm, and Town of Pincher Creek, as well as the work done by Okotoks and Canmore towards sustainability. The PowerPoint presentations can be accessed at:

There will be a new Request for Proposals from AUMA for communities to be assisted to do an MSP and I think that we could make a very good case for Peace River, tying in nicely to the strategic planning that Council is undertaking soon and the community consultation we are already planning for.

We received a copy of a new booklet for Albertans produced by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation and The Natural Step called Sustainability At Home: A toolkit. Decision-making help for your everyday choices. It will soon be available in hard copy but in the meantime is available online from the AUMA.

Following the workshop there was an optional networking dinner at which Todd Babiak, an author and Edmonton Journal columnist, spoke on the importance of arts and culture to municipalities to the quality of life and contributors to the economy. Babiak mentioned the recently-developed Edmonton Cultural Plan, The Art of Living: A Plan for Securing the Future of Arts and Heritage in the City of Edmonton and commented on how brilliant it is. I’d like to suggest that it would be worth reviewing with some members of Peace River’s art and culture community.

At Alberta’s Environment Conference, held in partnership with the AUMA, I attended the following sessions and would be pleased to share thoughts about any of them. Once the PowerPoint presentations for all sessions are available online, I’ll let Council know where these can be obtained.

• Economics: A science of decision-making (presented by Anish Neupane, a resource economist with Alberta Environment. Some of his major responsibilities include providing economic and socioeconomic advice related to policy formulation and development).

• The Impact of Energy Efficiency on the Environment (presented by John Rilett, the Director of Energy Efficiency and Conservation at Climate Change Central, a unique public-private partnership that promotes the development of innovative responses to global climate change and its impacts.)
• Where Ideas Flow: A panel on the newly created Alberta Water Research Institute
• Regulatory Considerations in a Brownfield Redevelopment Strategy (presented by Kevan van Velzen, Manager, Environmental Assessment and Liabilities, City of Calgary).
• Life Cycle Assessment of Oil Sands: A quantitative multi-sectoral approach to environmental stewardship (this was a panel on LCA, which extends traditional analyses of environmental impacts by incorporating the gamut of goods and services involved in production, use, and disposal of a product to construct a holistic reflection of total impacts from “cradle to grave.”
• Challenges, Solutions & Opportunities for Large Scale Wind Power Integration into Alberta (presented by John H Kehler, Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) and David Huggill, Western Canada Policy Manager, Canadian Wind Energy Association.

The Environment Minister, Rob Renner, was a keynote speaker and there was a lunchtime announcement of a new certificate program in consensus building that the Alberta Government and the Alberta Arbitration and Mediation Society have established in prominent Alberta environmentalist Martha Kostuch’s name. There is also a bursary being made available for the program, funded by the Alberta Government. Ms. Kostuch died the day after the announcement and presentation of flowers to her grand-daughter.

There was a large trade fair of products and services related to the environment. I have passed along some information to staff.

Earth Hour: Turn Off Your Lights on March 29 at 8:00

Consider participating in this year's Earth Hour on March 29 from 8:00-9:00. Town Council discussed this campaign at Monday's Council meeting and agreed to help promote it, although we stopped short of signing up as a municipality. Maybe next year.

So what IS Earth Hour? Last year, Sydney, Australia turned off lights for an hour to bring awareness about climate change and ways their residents could reduce their use of energy. This year, it has turned into a global event, and on March 29, individuals, businesses, and cities will participate by shutting off lights between 8:00 and 9:00 PM.

A number of large Canadian cities have already signed on--Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. I've signed up as an individual and you can, too. As I write, the counter on the website shows that over 52,600 individuals and 3000 businesses have signed up. Peace River residents can push up those numbers at: http://www.earthhour.org/

On the Take Action tab, you can download a document that provides ideas to help you become involved during Earth Hour. Think about what your family might be able to do during an hour without power--playing games, singing, or having a jam session by candlelight? (Be careful with the candles--we don't want fires started as a result of this campaign!)

On the Earth Hour Every Day tab there are ideas for conserving electricity anytime at home, at the office, and at school.

Let's each do what we can to show support for this initiative. On March 29, between 8:00 and 9:00 PM, shut off your lights, computers and other electrical appliances and help bring awareness about finding ways to reduce our contribution to climate change.