{"id":51547,"date":"2020-03-04T08:02:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T13:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=51547"},"modified":"2020-03-04T08:02:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T13:02:34","slug":"sprawling-our-way-to-climate-catastrophe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=51547","title":{"rendered":"Sprawling Our Way to Climate Catastrophe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/Analysis\/2020\/03\/04\/Climate-Catastrophe-Sprawl\/\">Sprawling Our Way to Climate Catastrophe<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The best way developers can help cut emissions is by redesigning suburbia. Make them to do it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thetyee.ca\/Analysis\/2020\/03\/04\/CoquitlamSuburbs.jpg\" alt=\"CoquitlamSuburbs.jpg\"\/><figcaption>Subdivisions in Coquitlam, BC. Ending sprawl is a tough conversation, which is why we seem to be putting it off.&nbsp;Photo via Alamy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a hole in B.C.\u2019s climate plan big enough to drive a subdivision through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While civil servants in Victoria diligently seek emissions reductions throughout the province to hit our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/gov\/content\/environment\/climate-change\/planning-and-action\/legislation\">climate targets<\/a>, the people working in B.C.\u2019s municipal governments routinely approve more suburban sprawl, meaning more drivers in private vehicles pushing emissions up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More frustrating is that local governments are ultimately creatures of the provincial government. This means the B.C. government is essentially working against itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cleanbc.gov.bc.ca\/\">CleanBC plan<\/a>&nbsp;includes all kinds of policies, from efficient buildings to promoting electric vehicles to workforce training. But it\u2019s strangely silent on the number one municipal climate issue: suburban sprawl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Transportation accounts for the most emissions at the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.metrovancouver.org\/metro2040\/environment\/reduce-ghgs\/ghg-emissions\/Pages\/default.aspx\">city level<\/a>, and those emissions are driven by development patterns. If municipalities approve dense development close to services, people can walk, bike or be well served by transit. If they approve spread-out subdivisions far from services, people have no choice but to get in their vehicles every time they leave the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And no, electric vehicles will not save us from bad development decisions. While a growing minority of people are indeed going electric, they still account for less than&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/6204322\/canada-electric-cars\/\">four per cent<\/a>&nbsp;of new car sales in Canada. Meanwhile, many buyers are increasingly shifting to gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, making Canada\u2019s fleet the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/when-it-comes-to-vehicles-canada-tops-the-charts-for-poor-fuel-economy-115213\">least efficient in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a policy failure in itself, but also a reminder that there is no one fix to climate change. We need to do it all, and local governments must play their part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sprawling Our Way to Climate Catastrophe The best way developers can help cut emissions is by redesigning suburbia. Make them to do it. There\u2019s a hole in B.C.\u2019s climate plan big enough to drive a subdivision through. While civil servants in Victoria diligently seek emissions reductions throughout the province to hit our&nbsp;climate targets, the people [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[94,113,141,25462,29148],"class_list":["post-51547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-british-columbia","tag-carbon-emissions","tag-climate-change","tag-matt-price","tag-urban-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51548,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51547\/revisions\/51548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}