On July 13, 2011, The Way We Green, Edmonton’s Environmental Strategic Plan, went before City Council’s Executive Committee for a second time (the first was on May 11, 2011). There was a large representation from the development industry on the speaking panel as well as one individual citizen and a representative from the Sierra Club. The Industry reps shared similar concerns over the implications The Way We Green document would have on growth in Edmonton. They suggested the document be used as an information piece only and expressed concern that adopting it would be counter intuitive to the high demand for growth in Edmonton.
Debate about the Precautionary Principle, basically a “better safe than sorry” approach to environmental decision making, was the highlight of the hearing, with only the Sierra Club expressing support for the principle. The remaining speakers argued that this Principle, which had been added to The Way We Green after the last hearing, went against the City’s risk management policy and would lead to individual interpretation each time a case was brought forward. Executive Committee agreed and eventually decided to eliminate the Precautionary Principle from The Way We Green document.
Interpretation of The Way We Green as a set of guidelines vs. policies brought confusion and concern to the table. City Administration later explained The Way We Green is meant as a set of guidelines and goals, with policies to follow pending the approval of the document.
In the end, Executive Committee sent The Way We Green without recommendation to City Council for further discussion and direction. The Way We Green will be at the July 20th Council meeting. If you would like to speak at this meeting, please call the Office of the City Clerk at 780-496-8178.
Dani Findlay & Katie Young
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Was the executive committee meeting open? I did not know about that meeting until I read the results in the news.
A lobby group with narrow self interest is hijacking TWWG. What was executive committee thinking? I ask this sincerely. Is it just that the precautionary principal is an understood and assumed principal anyway and adding it overtly is gratuitous?
Creating a WWG document that will guide us into the future will attract competitive and progressive community minded businesses. It will attract people on whom those business will rely. We should not cater to weak businesses that need subsidy and unjust advantages to survive. This may sound harsh but it sounds like the voices from industry that were expressed were not ones that most industry or business would support. Business and industry want a stable and level playing field, not unreasonable concessions. Many progressive businesses will be helpful in taking TWWG forward. Lets engage those businesses!
I am quite dstressed to hear that the city’s ambitious TWWG initiative has been stalled because of a contingent of business people. I had thought that the May 11 meeting exposed a balanced cross section of individuals all who cared about the future of Edmonton. As was said many times at the meeting, TWWG could establish us in daring to put community, health, and the real quality of life values over and above short term pocket book status. I agree with Raquel that there probably are many businesses who would back a progressive plan for greening our city. I also wonder whether council feels it is fair to be swayed by such a one-sided collection of participants. Don’t the residents have a say? I am so sorry that I did not know of this meeting, so that I could have joined Sierra Club in cheering on the vision.
Once again, we are left wondering, how is it that private business interests were able in a single meeting to alter the content of the TWWG document – a document built upon a tremendous outpouring of public input/passion and scientific foundations from well established scholars for the health and well-being of a City and its residents.
As a life-long resident of Edmonton, I have watched and smelled and listened and tasted the degradation of Edmonton due to the choices guided by corporate interests. Urban sprawl, pollution, loss of biodiversity and natural habitat are all choices made by and for profit-based companies who have no long-term vision for this city – they have the same tired argument: planning for the future well-being of people and places will be bad for business… of course they never show empirical evidence for these claims. Meanwhile, publication after publication, news story after news story shows that the choices made for corporate interests alone leads to two outcomes: profits for shareholders and environmental destruction for everyone and everything else.
TWWG has the potential to situate Edmonton so that there is a city at all to leave to our grandchildren and their children. Whats bad for growth is not a triple bottom line that honours the place we live and the resources and services that the forests and animals, watershed, airshed and natural spaces provides to a community – it is continuing to allow individuals and corporations that presuppose theoretical economic models which in turn presuppose a stable and perfectly functioning planet along with the manufactured illusion of continuous economic growth which is absolutely anti-scientific to have any say in how a city and its residents carry on the tasks of daily life.
Everyday we are reading stories of extreme weather around the world. Everyday we are reading stories about economic nightmares unfolding. Economic calamity brought about by corporate greed and manipulation and lies. TWWG provides the necessary science and principles that the residents of Edmonton can use to begin the process of adapting to a changing climate, which in turn is affecting food safety globally, energy production and many other problems that we as a people are going to have to face one way or another.
I ask: Why is our future being influenced by nameless, faceless, legally opaque corporate entities that have no obligation to have moral, environmental or spiritual values or commitments?
I would go further and point out how flawed the argument of “bad for growth” is. One simply need look at the world’s largest economy, the USA, to note that they have no growth at the moment, worse yet, who is taking the fall for it? The people. The first item to not be paid if the government defaults? Social Services. The elderly, the young, the sick, the marginalized are struck first. The wealthy? The are fine.
Now imagine if instead of spending 800 billion on warfare and profits they had implemented a country-wide version of TWWG? If communities had already been retrofitted with gardens and food forests. If communities had been re-developed so that cars were no longer needed. If community spaces had been built for traditional skills and energy production and food production. The loss of social services would still be difficult to swallow, but there would be pathways out of the mess whereby entire communities would be able to work together and support each other for long periods of time. Probably enough time for government to come up with its own solutions…though I’m not holding my breath.
We the people of Edmonton DEMAND that our ELECTED officials do whats right and what they were hired to do: to steward the social, economic and environmental resources and assets of Edmonton in such a way that we can ensure we eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels, produce the food and energy we need to support a healthy and realistic quality of life, and re-design our communities around alternative modes of transportation and habitation that are beautiful and functional and embrace the entire community of life.
Making choices that honour our radical dependence on the Earth and her ecosystems is not only the most sensible course of action, its the most just, most holistic, most beautiful and most promising course of action we have. Will our elected officials choose profits over people in this matter at this most important juncture of Edmonton’s history? My experience and history say “yes”, but I hold onto hope and reason until proven otherwise.
Rise up Edmonton and re-claim your city!
It is interesting that only the development industry came in against the WWG, and is to be expected. The WWG is not about curtailing growth, it is about doing it responsibly. Some industries are not going to like it, but we need to coax them along and stand strong in our principals for a brighter tomorrow for our children. Urban sprawl cannot continue indefinitely, it is irresponsible to both the taxpayer and the environment. We need to look at new ways of growing our city, perhaps up and in, as opposed to out out out. In the meantime we might get to know each other better, build our communities and feel part of something great. We need to support our local food systems for food security in the long term, and this cannot happen when we continue to pave over our precious arable land with more suburbs.
The WWG is so very important, I really hope that Council will see it and continue with their vision of a bright future for Edmonton and Alberta.
Thank you all for your encouraging words and support! TWWG is going before City Council today at 1:30 in the Council Chambers, City Hall. Although there will be no speakers it is open to the public so please come! There will also be a live video streaming from the Chambers if you can’t get away from the office. To access this video: 1. Go to http://www.edmonton.ca 2. Click on the City Government tab 3. Click on Mayor and City Council under City Organization 4. Click on Streaming Video on the right hand side of the page 5. Choose Audio and/or Video for the Council Chambers. Hope to see you there!
I was at the July 20th council meeting as I happen to believe TWWG is a great strategic plan for the City. I also happen to be a private business owner doing what is outlined in TWWG today actually. I actually felt it was a positive council meeting as it was strongly supported by the majority of council. So I would say to everyone not to get discouraged and to remain vigilant, but also not to despair as there are many business people supporting this initiative as in some ways it is a “no-brainer”. The development industry may not like it but if people get behind it they can’t derail it. Companies like mine are doing this with or without City guidelines or support. This will eventually drag everyone along. If anyone is interested in how we can develop carbon neutral buildings you are welcome to see what my company is doing in Beacon Heights. At 12102 45 Street we are doing a commercial NetZero retrofit to an existing building so that into the future it will be a carbon neutral building. It can be done today.
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