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Posted by Daniel Van Der Kroon
Abbotsford, the City of Cars
with one comment
A solid network of bicycle paths in Abbotsford is fully justified. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 80% of all local trips stay local rather than leaving city boundaries, which means that many trips are 3-4 kilometres or less. Gas prices continue to rise, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a gas tax in the FVRD’s near future to pay for better public transit among other things. Getting more people onto bike might be the single most cost-effective transportation Abbotsford could make: consumers save fuel and vehicle costs; and the city saves money on maintenance budgets, not to mention long term sickness-care costs. Perhaps most of all, people ARE cycling in this city, even with practically no meaningful infrastructure: below are a number of photos which I took in a stretch of about an hour at Townline/Southern, and Clearbrook/S. Fraser way:
So cyclists are using Abbotsford Streets with regularity, some on sidewalks and some on the roads. And yet, our mayor and council have cut bike lane funding, opting to re-direct the paltry amount of funding allocated for bicycle paths (in comparison to infrastructure for cars) to road building instead. I’ll dig up the link if I can still find it as soon as I have a chance, but this happened two-three months ago.
Now I’m off to Aldergrove on the 21. Ciao.
Posted by Daniel Vander Kroon, Fraser Valley Environmental Activist and avid champion of better public transportation:
What’s Next for Climate Activists?
It’s possible that I am too trusting, to quick to believe without proper rigorous analysis. Likely, in fact. How else to explain my long-standing dislike of fossil-fuel powered transportation dating as far back as early high-school when my powers to examine evidence could in no way have been as well developed as they are now, and yet I was already willing to structure my personal lifestyle in such a way as to fit with a low-carbon economy? More likely, I suppose, is that I’m willing to employ common sense and listen to reason in governing my life, and to me it’s always been reasonable that affecting the composition of the atmosphere could have a dramatic impact on the planet. Action-reaction, cause-effect, knowing pollution-consequence.
In Grade 10, my public speaking presentation happened to be on the topic of climate change, in which I floated such fear-mongering examples as major cities such as New York being largely underwater (I distinctly recall first-aid specialists being called in to revive people).
Since that time, I never felt the desire to get my hands on a car and a driver’s licence like most everybody else my age. Simply wasn’t a priority. Cars just didn’t fit with the way I felt people ought to live life. So, I’ve done ok utilizing the public transit option, and predominantly, my bicycle. They’re choices which are only now starting to pay benefits, as I explore social networks centred around the car-free lifestyle and healthy eating and localized food production. Not to mention the fitness I gain, as my metabolism starts to slow down and my intake of calories is harder to control.
In fact, now that Copenhagen is almost universally deemed a failure, and a few less than flattering leaked e-mails have wreaked literal havoc with the momentum toward economic transition away from fossil fuels, the option seems to exist for me to throw in the towel, accepting that humanity has chosen its fate, and as James Lovelock says it’s best to do, get prepared for the inevitable warming instead of trying to stave it off. How best to prepare? Possibly by using a vehicle to increase my efficiency.
However, having gotten accustomed to alternative transportation by wanting my choices to be in line with what I thought public policy should be, I’ve realized it’s worth sticking with in any regard. To spend $500-$1200 a month on a car is frighteningly common, and still, how many people do you know who don’t have some kind of altercation involving ICBC that they can point to? Those who can structure their lives to avoid the automobile will have a huge competitive advantage over those who remain tied to them. This goes for everything, from the place where you live, to the location and means of accessing the workplace, to the property you own.
People who use their own power to get around, or use mass transportation will be far healthier also; they will save the time in the gym to get their cardio, and on mass transit, they will be able to do constructive activities while travelling, from talking on the phone to writing reports or other documents, (not to mention sleeping while someone else is paid to drive).
A month or two ago, I made a an agreement with a skeptical friend of mine who was sending out e-mails that claimed to “debunk” climate change, or at least anthropogenic climate change. The deal was that we would both rigorously analyze the evidence, responding and examining each point made by both sides to come to a final conclusion.
Neither of us has done a damn thing.
I haven’t had the time to spend multiple evenings poring over arcane scientific reports, seperating them from the reports meant only to deceive, sow doubt, protect the fossil-fuel industry, and create confusion. If someone like me, who is pretty damn near convinced that things have gotta change and fast doesn’t have the time to pore over every last shred of evidence, what hope is there for the average working person who simply wants to enjoy his life and not get hung up on things that don’t affect him/her beyond next week?
I stand by my maxim that the risk of doing nothing if climate change is anthropogenic is far, far, greater than the risk of creating an economic transition if it turns out that anthropogenic climate change is false.
I believe it was Exxon who authored the leaked report that said that their product now was doubt. Create doubt, and the people would do nothing and government action would be rendered ineffective. Evidently, that strategy has been wildly successful, something I’m a little bitter about.
Still, I’m not caving to the pressure to become vehicle dependent – not yet, at least. I still see too many benefits, mostly financial ones, but also physical and social to not operating a car, and too many drawbacks to doing so. I still wholeheartedly support policies to regulate carbon emissions, as it just makes sense to derive revenue from activities we don’t like, and thereby encourage the ones we do, such as earning income. Lower income taxes in favour of taxing things that create pollution, whether they’re affecting the climate or not. Revenue stays the same, which means so do services, but activities that harm society are made less competitive.
What must we do? We must continue to press our governments, peers, and business leaders for meaningful concrete action in the off chance that so doing will minimize the damage. Today’s youth can hardly be said to be responsible for what may happen, since by the time I and my peers are in a position to have meaningful influence, the moment for action will have long passed, and as somebody famous put it, we will be in an era of consequences, not the current lull.
So to the young people, don’t sweat it; advocate for and support legislation such as the carbon-tax recently floated at the federal level, but don’t get too down if governments do not respond. It’s really not your fight.
No, the fight has been in the ball-park of today’s decision makers, and boy, have they ever dropped this ball. Your fight is to make sure you’re ready for the changes that are coming, and that in the future, decisions are not so horribly influenced by the moneyed and empowered elites whose primary interest is the status quo rather than the common good.
Posted by Keith Hebert BCIT Analyst
Considering the plugouttunein.com tagline, I was humoured to say the least when reading a canada.com article online tonight.
COPENHAGEN — Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Copenhagen on Saturday to demand a strong global-climate pact, even as world leaders reiterated that the coming week’s talks will not lead to a binding legal agreement.
Among the balloons and climate-themed sails waved during the massive demonstration flew the flags of left-of-centre European political parties, as well as signs reading “there is no planet B“.
The carbon bathtub
Posted by John Vissers Fraser Valley Conservancy
National Geographic has posted an excellent diagram depicting our CO2 emissions as though it were water filling up a bathtub.
It’s simple, really.
As long as we pour CO2 into the atmosphere faster than nature drains it out, the planet warms.
And that extra carbon takes a long time to drain out of the tub.
By Keith Hebert, BCIT Analyst.
On Monday while driving to evening class at BCIT, I was listening to CKNW AM 980, and Meteorologist Mark Madryga was talking about the temperatures in Eureka, NU, a research station on Ellsemere Island where temperatures can be colder than -50°C!
I pulled the data from Environment Canada, and worked through the summary and sent it in for Mark. Attached here as a Microsoft excel file if you would like it.
Key point? 2000-2009 was 2.6°C warmer on average than 1970-1979
Mark was appreciative for the savings of legwork, and asked if I could also provide an analysis of the temperature for another point in BC. The theme here being the pine beetle, and if temperatures were different enough over the last 40 years to make us more vulnerable to a spreading infestation.
Looking at data for just December and January each season in Prince George, I was kinda shocked to see that 2000-2009 was 4.0°C warmer on average than 1970-1979! You can view this data in excel here.
Climate change is happening, and it’s important that we take real action. And that includes supporting our youth, and their involvement in the task at hand.
Thank you Alexandria for taking weeks out of your busy schedule and dedicating the time to equip yourself to fight against the obstacles preventing us from all moving forward.
To the climate change deniers and skeptics out there, watch out! Things are heating up. 
