In September Premier Campbell announced that the Government of BC’s actions related to climate change were being expanded with the creation of seven regional Citizens’ Conservation Councils for Climate Action.  Comprised of about 70 individuals from around the Province, the councils will help to build a network for grassroots climate action around BC.  In particular, the councils will advise government on the best ways to encourage individuals, groups and communities in their regions to learn more about climate change, participate in climate action initiatives, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"It’s a tremendous honour to be invited to participate and the first meeting of the entire group in October showed me how committed the Government is to this issue and how passionate the council members are about climate change," says Rob van Adrichem, the Director of Communications at the University of Northern BC (UNBC) who is one of the eight council members appointed from the Cariboo-Prince George region.  The other council members from this region are CNC President John Bowman, Valemount Mayor Jeanette Thompson, Vanderhoof Mayor Len Fox, the Recycling and Environmental Action Planning Society Executive Director Terri McClymont, the Prince George People’s Action Committee for Health Air member Kathy deGrace, David Livingstone of Lomak Transportation, and UNBC grad student Danielle Smyth. The first meeting of this regional council will take place in mid-November.

The Citizens’ Conversation Councils join the BC Climate Action Team and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS) as bodies that advise the BC Government in general and the BC Climate Action Secretariat.

A new report published by the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC) provides information for resource managers and decision makers in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region to “understand and incorporate the potential risks of climate into current and future land use planning efforts.”  The report provides a preliminary assessment of historical and possible future climate change in the area, and states that this information “will help resource managers to consider potential impacts to natural resource values included in the Cariboo-Chilcotin Land Use Plan and to begin designing local adaptation strategies.”  The report may serve as a model for similar studies that could be initiated for other regions in the province.  Full report.

Dr. Andrew Weaver, professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria, has recently published “Keeping Our Cool: Canada in a Warming World” (Viking Canada, 2008).  Dr. Weaver has been a lead author in the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is considered one of the world’s leading climate scientists.  His book presents “a compelling and detailed account of the science of global warming”, and he urges readers to take seriously the overwhelming scientific evidence of human-induced climate change, and to take action accordingly. Dr. Weaver was interviewed on CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks science program:  http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/podcast.html (select the Quirks & Quarks - 2008-09-13 link)

Earlier this month, Vancouver city council voted to permit the use of low-speed electric vehicles on its streets, becoming the second jurisdiction in the province to do so (the first being the Victoria suburb of Oak Bay).  Under the new city bylaws, these vehicles will now be able to travel on Vancouver streets which have a posted speed limit of 50 km per hour or less, meaning they will be able to travel on most city streets.  The normally small, light electric cars are already allowed under B.C. law to travel on roads with a speed limit of 40 km per hour or less, but are only allowed on roads with faster speed limits when municipalities vote to permit them.  Most low-speed electric cars don’t yet have impact absorbing bumpers or airbags, and hence they don’t meet the crash standards for regular vehicles.  New hybrid electric vehicles, planned to be released as early as next year by some major auto manufacturers, will be fully compliant with the safety regulations for regular vehicles.  Details. 

Four of the nine 2008 LiveSmart BC Green Cities Award Winners, announced in September at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention in Penticton, are northern cities.  Dawson Creek, Prince George, Smithers and Taylor each received the award in their category (based on city size), and were recognized for “demonstrating leadership and innovation in sustainability.” In each case, climate change related initiatives (such as efforts to improve on energy efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions) were a factor in their award merits.  Details.

In a collaborative effort between local governments, UBCM and the Province of BC, the new BC Climate Action Toolkit was also announced at the UBCM convention in Penticton.  The BC Climate Action Toolkit is “a tool for knowledge sharing and collaboration.  It provides current news, best practices, practical advice, information, and strategic guidance to help BC local governments successfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, strengthen their communities.”  The toolkit provides a broad range of information and resources to assist climate change action within government operations and community-wide.  Details.

The University of Northern British Columbia is a leader in Canada with respect to the proportion of its research activities focused on the environment, including climate change.  In the knowledge-based economy and in an era of climate change and issues such as the mountain pine beetle epidemic, applying research and development to the resource sector is key to the sustainability of resource-based communities.  Profiles of some of the climate change-related research being undertaken at UNBC can be found via webpage 1 and webpage 2.

The 2008 Planning Institute of BC (PIBC) Conference held in Prince George in June was the venue for a full day ‘Adapting to Climate Change’ workshop involving over 50 participants, including planners from across BC and the Yukon, academics, non-governmental organization representatives, and spokespeople from the City of Prince George.  Three integrated sessions on flooding and stormwater, water quality and quantity, and infrastructure generated preliminary strategies to help communities adapt to the anticipated impacts of climate change in the region, using Prince George as the case study.  The recommendations from the workshop included calls for more detailed climate change data, policy adjustments, new approaches to engineering, and greater public awareness of issues.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada will give $100 million to developing countries to cope with climate change.  Mr. Harper said developed countries such as Canada are in a position to help poorer nations, noting "we are aware that developing countries do not have as many resources with which to manage climate change and adaptation to the climate".  The money will help "vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa, the Caribbean and the South Pacific," he said.  Mr. Harper made the announcement at the closing ceremony of the three-day Francophonie summit in Quebec City.  Details.

In August, 2008, Health Canada released its own major Climate Change report: Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacity.  The report observes that “climate change is expected to increase risks to the health of Canadians through many pathways”, that “adaptation helps us prepare now for the expected changes by taking proactive actions to minimize risks”, and that “risks can be reduced by increasing adaptive capacity”.  Among other topics, the report examines potential health risks related to extreme weather events, natural hazards, air quality, and diseases, and looks at health-related vulnerabilities, adaptation and adaptive capacity across the country.  Details.

Recognizing that “climate change will directly impact community planning, city infrastructure, and operations management”, the City of Prince George is interested in partnering with the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC), based at the University of Victoria, to model past hydroclimatology and future climate impacts for Prince George and its surrounding region.  Having “an understanding of the historical trends in temperature and precipitation, and predicting future climate parameters, is a necessary first step in determining adaptation strategies for the various City programs and services,” reads a statement in a Staff Report to Council this past August. City Council approved an application for a grant under the Province’s Infrastructure Planning Grant Program to fund the infrastructure planning study “Climate Change Adaptation – Trends and Future Projections”. (Refer to page 7, item G3 of the August 11 Regular Council Minutes for notice of the application approval at  http://www.city.pg.bc.ca/cityhall/minutes/2008/Minutes_2008_08_11.pdf. The full report is unavailable online.)