Event: Update to the Community Energy Emissions Plan - a Climate Conversation. Hosted by Bowen Island Municipality on Zoom Feb. 4 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
If letters to the editor are any indication, Bowen Islanders are aware of and care about the climate crisis – but how are we doing lowering our greenhouse gas emissions?
That’s a complicated question but at the forefront of the effort is BIM’s Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP). It’s a “long-term plan to improve energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster local green energy solutions,” last done in 2016.
Now, CEEP is getting an update. “So that we can get a good idea of where we’re at and what we need to do in order to get to where we need to be,” explained BIM’s environment and parks planning coordinator Carla Skuce .
“We already have our climate action plan,” explained Skuce. (BIM’s Climate Action Strategy, adopted in 2020.) “We completed that subsequent to the climate strikes because…when we declared a climate emergency, it was important to demonstrate to the community that we wanted to take action right away.
“This is just a little bit different because they’re delving into the numbers a bit more.”
The Community Energy Association, contracted to do the plan, does a gap analysis, modelling and workshops with the community – the latest workshop taking place Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m..
Thursday’s climate conversation will discuss the process of updating the plan and how emission-reducing actions are chosen but also go more into what individual Bowen Islanders can do to reduce their footprints.
Previous emissions studies have found that 80 per cent of the island’s greenhouse gas footprint is transportation related and while much of that is the ferry, which we have no control over, other initiatives – better bus service, commuting service, encouraging electric vehicles – can help. As can carbon-reducing activities in other sectors: stricter building standards (as BIM is implementing – step three of provincial STEP code is mandated on Bowen as of last October), organics diversion (the new proposed composting facility) and more.
The Official Community Plan set out the goal of reducing Bowen Island’s 2020 greenhouse gas emissions to 33 per cent of what they were in 2007 (a province-wide goal set that year) but the Undercurrent reported in 2017 that the CEEP left Bowen emitting greenhouse gasses well above its targets.
So how are our emissions doing?
To hear where we’re at as a community and where we need to be, tune into the climate conversation on Zoom Thursday evening.
The event will be recorded (not the question and answer period though) and there's a survey for islanders interested in giving their input on how Bowen could reduce its emissions.
