I always thought it odd, when sitting on Council, that some people just didn’t like good news.
Whenever reports came in that detailed how we were making progress as a city, the reaction of some was (1) disbelief and/or skepticism, (2) “It’s a good first start …” (3) “Yeah, but what about … ” (That’s one of the main purposes of the Downtown East Side: no matter what we do, there’s always the DES.)
Most often the reports simply don’t get much coverage.
So I’ve heard about this report from a few people, but it doesn’t seem to have registered:
Vancouver has experienced significant growth since 1990, with the number of people increasing 24% and the number of jobs increasing 14%. Along with this growth, the demand for City services, the number of automobiles, and the built area have also increased substantially. Nationally, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have increased 25% and provincial emissions are up 30% since 1990.
Despite these pressures, Vancouver’s 2006 GHG emissions from civic operations (corporate emissions) have fallen to 5% below 1990 levels and city-wide (community emissions) have been limited to 5% above 1990 levels.
Vancouver’s per capita emissions (4.9 tonnes/person) are down 15% compared to 1990 and are less than half of those for Toronto (9.3 t/person) and a fraction of those of other cities such as Calgary (17.5 t/person), Seattle (12.4 t/per person) and Portland (13.7t/person).
To sum up: Vancouver’s population is up 24% but Vancouver’s GHG emissions are up 5% since 1990 and appear to have stabilized (if not started to decline).
Hi Gordon, I wanted to let you know that Vancouver IAM has selected this as one of the best Vancouver blog posts. In fact, we like it so much we included it our Vancouver blog report. Keep the good news coming.
Interestingly, Victoria columnist Les Leyne has a piece in today’s Times-Colonist, Vancouver’s traffic crisis overblown, which in a way supports insisting, as you do, that while population has increased, emissions are down — in contrast to what the Provincial government insists is a transportation crisis that can only be met with new and massive road construction. From Leyne’s column:
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The Victoria and Vancouver Foundations each released report cards last week on the cities’ livability. The Vital Signs reports suggest the fabled Lower Mainland gridlock is a bit overblown. (…snip…) The expense associated with getting around isn’t that big a problem, either. The average cost per household in the Lower Mainland is $9,400 a year. That’s $1,200 more than in Victoria, but still in the middle of the Canadian pack. (…snip…) Reading the two reports side by side leaves the impression transportation in Victoria is a relative non-issue, while in Vancouver it’s not quite as bad as everyone suggests. Which makes you wonder about the multibillion-dollar Gateway Project. It calls for roads and bridges as far as the eye can see around the Lower Mainland. (…snip…) It goes over beautifully with all those commuting voters who are predisposed to believe they are living in hell on Earth. And there is reams of information justifying the spending of billions of dollars by emphasizing gridlock and congestion. But Vital Signs is a dispassionate, impartial look at how people get around Metro Vancouver. It found whatever transportation problems the city has are slowly getting better, not worse.
Just So You Know: One small example of how the Liberals emphasize the need for Gateway. The official government estimate of the cost of traffic congestion in the Lower Mainland is “up to $1.5 billion a year.” The Vital Signs report, citing federal data, pegs it at between $400 million and $600 million a year.
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So, to get back to your opening remark: not liking good news (a sort of regional religion around here, I sometimes think) can also serve to push projects through… With an Eeyore as leader of a kind of populist religion, it makes sense to stress bad news. Eeyore’s Church of Falling Skies will gather the people and pave the way for your agenda!
In this case, literally “pave”… 😉
Good to hear the Victoria take on things, but just FYI, Vitals Signs 2007 “public opinion research and citizen grading have identified improved transportation and better ways of getting around as our region’s number one priority issue.”
http://www.vancouverfoundationvitalsigns.ca/?q=node/17