#Yes2ClimateYEG

Tracey | Glastonbury

As a person who works with Edmonton schools to increase youth and family engagement in active and sustainable travel, impactful municipal climate action and active living strategies matter to me. When it comes to climate, no person, no organization, is a silo: each and every action affects everyone. When youth understand how their transportation choices can feed into municipal strategies to combat climate change and build healthy, active communities, their decision to make those necessary, proactive changes is bolstered. An updated Energy Transition Strategy will provide that focus, the leadership, for citizens of all ages to take action for climate.

Jennifer | Balwin

Reading through the Proposed Accelerated Actions for our Energy Transition Strategy, I am heartened to see a focus throughout of Indigenous engagement. I believe this is a critical piece because not only do we need a technology change but a change of mind and heart. The dominating worldview in which we live prioritizes accumulation and growth and we are reaping the fallout of generations of this being lived out. Adopting a worldview in which we realize we are a part of the ecosystem and not apart from it will go a long way in helping us live out a way of life in harmony with the rest of the natural world and not in combat with it. I hope we embrace our place in nature with naturalized areas as carbon sinks and increased tree coverage. I hope we discover wahkohtowin or kinship with the outdoor world and our fellow citizens.

Personally, I am looking forward to living in a city where getting around on bike and foot is safe and easy for children, seniors and everyone in between. Having a daughter who has just turned 16, while living in northeast Edmonton, I am realizing that I feel safer teaching her to drive a car than learn to navigate the city by bike. It should not be this way.

Another aspect I am looking forward to is PACE funding for installing solar and other energy efficiency upgrades. I have been going back and forth about simply buying solar but not being quite able to afford them, I have been waiting for this financial technology to help buy them. With less than a decade left of our carbon budget, we don’t have time to wait any longer.

Many Edmontonians are only a generation or two from living in rural settings and we have brought our rural sensibilities with us of being self-sufficient and independent. Those qualities served many of our European ancestors well as they homesteaded but a new set of values is needed for the new milieu we find ourselves in. The city’s strength is found in collaboration and synergy. Yesterday, while driving to work I saw new LRT cars being delivered by train and an electric bus going by. I am so thrilled in the direction the city is going in and excited to see the city we are building together.

Kimberly | Queen Alexandra

The mountains and rivers in Alberta, including the river valley in Edmonton, are my happy place. Camping, hiking, snowshoeing… reconnecting with nature. Increasing wildfires and decreasing snow cover are threatening these things I love. A low-carbon city will help protect these things, and have many other benefits for Edmonton… green spaces, active transit, economic diversity, innovation, inclusion, community, resilience. I’m not only concerned about climate change, but also a response to the global pandemic that ensures a just recovery and transition to a better future. I support climate action in Edmonton and ask City Council to say #Yes2ClimateYEG.

Paul | Strathcona

As Edmonton’s population has grown over the last decade , this has placed increasing pressure on our immediate environment. Our unique prairie location makes rapid outward growth relatively easy. In many cases upfront costs are lower for developers to build on greenfield sites rather than infill. The long term cost will be greater. My wife and I made the choice to live in the core neighbourhood of Strathcona so that we could minimize travel and continue to be less car dependent. While we both work we are able to ride share and remain a single car household. When it came time to build a new home, we decided we wanted to stay in the community and we decided to focus on building an energy efficient house that became the second netzero energy home in our area. The savings on utilities means we could invest the extra upfront cost into energy efficiency items. I would like to see the city build on its current rebate programs and seriously pursue programs like P.A.C.E. (Property Assessed Clean Energy) programs that would allow homeowners to offset upfront costs for energy efficient upgrades through an annual levy on their property taxes.

Bethel | Belle Rive

When the City helps residents add sustainable habits to their lifestyle, everyone wins. I’m fortunate to live in a neighbourhood where I can travel to the nearby grocery store, transit centre, or post office in under 15 minutes year-round, even without using a personal vehicle. I and many of my neighbours live in multi-generational households where taking children to school doesn’t require a car, commuting via public transit is feasible, and outdoor recreation spaces like Poplar Park are within walking distance. Unequal access to these kinds of neighbourhood amenities is what gives some Edmontonians more freedom to incorporate sustainable practices in their personal lives.

Because I live near multiple grocery stores, I can walk home with groceries, while someone who lives in a food desert might need to call a taxi. Because I have access to express transit service, I don’t need a personal vehicle as much as someone who lives or works in a transit desert does. My lifestyle can only align with Edmonton’s vision of a low-carbon, sustainable, healthy future when the City makes decisions around planning and maintenance that support my ability to make those sustainable choices. Extending that type of support to residents in all areas of the city — especially in underserved areas — is the climate change action that I want to see more of.