Be heard

Last week we told you that we will be asking Maple Ridge Council for an action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in our community. 

We're also asking that they set emissions targets that line up with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report from 2018: 

• 45% below 2010 levels by 2030
• 65% by 2040, and
• 100% by 2050

Building Back Better series 

Corporate Knights is hosting a series of weekly webinars called Building Back Better. Each week offers a perspective on how applying a climate lens to the post-COVID recovery period will help ramp up some of the best opportunities to get back to work, while speeding Canada along the path to a low-carbon economy.  

Next Wednesday’s webinar is on electrifying our cars, trucks and buses. Register here, then grab a coffee (it starts at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time) and tune in.

View upcoming topics and recordings of earlier sessions on their Planning for a Green Recovery post. 

Vancouver buildings to heat "green"   

This past Wednesday, Vancouver City Council approved amendments to their building bylaw to bring down carbon pollution from new residential buildings to nearly zero.

The changes recognize that the biggest source of GHG emissions in Vancouver is burning natural gas for heating and hot water.

Starting in January 2022, all new buildings three storeys and under will be required to produce zero emissions from heating and hot water.

Other new buildings will be expected to move closer to Step 4 of the new BC Energy Step Code, starting in 2021.  

The City expects these changes to result in 63% less carbon pollution than a typical home built to the current standards, and 86% less carbon pollution than a similar home built to the 2007 standards, which Vancouver is using as their baseline year.

The cost of these changes is estimated to be, on average, less than half of one percent of the value of the affected properties.

The building bylaw changes are part of Vancouver’s ambitious Climate Emergency Action Plan.

Feeling crafty? Make a bee house!   

The David Suzuki Foundation's Queen of Green offers great tips this month on choosing or making a home for bees.  

This article covers do's and don'ts for mason bee houses, and great ideas to build a house yourself using found objects from around the house and yard. 

If you have a particular soft spot for the humble bumblebee, the Queen has tips for housing that tickles their fancy too.  

Perhaps the best tip is that messy yards help wild bees. So happy foraging, little bee friends. Our messy yards are that way on purpose !