Doing "Our" Part

Once again, it is us, the pawns, the ‘end of the line’ sheeple that are to fix this climate change issue. A meeting at the Kelsey Center, Downtown Sayward, on the evening of March 15, 2010, drew 9 members from the community, Mayor John Mcdonald, Councillor Debbie Coats, and Cameron Cairncross, Village Administrator who introduced Rob Roycroft, MCIP in a lively discussion. WWW.roycroft.ca will give you an overview of Rob’s credentials.

Rob has been hired by the Village to facilitate us in how to reduce the harmful effects of Greenhouse gases, our Carbon Footprint, to prior 2006 levels. The Federal Government has issued a decree to each of the Provinces, which in turn has put the onus on the communities and municipalities in said province, to become Carbon Neutral by 2012. We are now part of the ‘BC Climate Action Charter’ in which 177 communities have signed on. This means that we ALL have to pitch in and do even more to try and keep our planet alive, by reducing our emissions and be more aware of waste. Shortly into the meeting, it was mentioned that this meeting was NOT about whether climate change was an issue and if anyone was here for that reason they could leave. This was done tongue-in-cheek and 2 people chuckled, made to leave and sat down, along with a laugh or two.

We were presented with a chart (attached) showing levels of consumption of fuel, solid waste and Energy. These figures were compiled from 2006 data and pertained to the Village of Sayward only and only represented a guideline of figures. There was discussion on where people purchased their fuel as there was no fuel service in the Village and ‘how can these figures be accurate.’ A base figure is that; a base figure. If further figures are based on the same criteria, the end result will be a fairly good representation of what we need to know. It was at this point that I raised the point about the information discussed at this meeting and was it going to be published in a news article. I was actually amazed at the look of a few people. This is the third PUBLIC meeting with PUBLIC notices advertising a PUBLIC meeting and there has been NO follow up regarding the outcome of such meetings. ‘Where is it going to be published?” came up and I said the Sayward News… and it was indicated that if I so desired to write something, it would definitely be printed. The reply to that was that we shall see as previous material has not been published.

Discussed were various ways to reduce our emissions, from how to more efficiently run the Village office/works yard, to individuals cutting costs. Rob mentioned that to date that the Village had completed/in process of completing 1) light upgrades 2) office and works yard upgrade 3) Kelsey Centre refit 4) HVAC project at the Kelsey Center 5) installing condensing furnaces. These projects already count towards our Carbon Neutrality because we are eligible to receive grants in order to pursue other projects. We have to come up with a list of reasonable and attainable target goals by May 31, 2010 and with that six large pages were filled with suggestions:

SOLID WASTE

ban plastic bags

public education – composting

more promotion/options

receptacles for garbage

ban Styrofoam

frequency of pick up

glass recycling

TRANSPORTATION

turn off vehicles

anit idling

car pool

promote cycling/walking

plan/share trips

PUBLIC AWARENESS

finance grants & support

efficient operations

AROUND THE HOME

PowerSmart BC hydro site

building retrofits

allow sheep to cut grass

heat pumps

fix leaks

wood stove operations

WATER AND SEWER

rain barrels

support conservation

leaks

low flush toilets

‘pee in shower’

VILLAGE

reduce street lights

convert green areas to

community gardens

buy green

bio doggy bags

These suggestions have been taken back to Council, digested and discussed at which time a further public meeting will be held to discuss the Target Goals of Sayward Village.

Once again us mere mortals as sheeple and pawns have not enough to do with trying to survive in this troubled world, we now have to pick up and ‘fix’ more wrongs that have been perpetrated on us by sociopathic corporations who have no soul. Besides the fact that ‘global warming’ has been fearmongered upon us with all kinds of twisted logic purporting to be accurate, I find it offensive that we have to do the ‘dirty work’ of cleaning up after those who have more money than brains. Oil companies need more profit and therefore need more ways to ‘sell/utilize’ their product giving us the garbage to deal with. How about admitting that there is a problem with our skies, that someone with ulterior motives is girdling the earth with unknown substances in the form of chem. trails, spreading to cover the sky so GHG’s can’t leave and Vitamin D can’t enter. We are already sorting our garbage and disposing of masses amounts of plastic, an after thought of the petroleum industry. We are ‘recycling’ all we can, with some questioning the recycling fees we pay and how that money is used.