Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 21/02) - Yellowknife got "whooped" by our rival territorial capital to the west after being put to the test in an environmental challenge, says Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

Rush-hour traffic jams on Yellowknife's busiest street mean more gas and more pollution. - Merle Robillard/NNSL photo

Whitehorse finished second out of 34 cities in the Commuter Challenge 2002. Yellowknife was ranked fourth.

"The City of Whitehorse challenged us and they beat us in every area," said Brian Kelln, program manager with community services in Yellowknife.

And it's the numbers that prove this which tell the more dramatic tale of two territorial rivals.

Whitehorse had a total reduction of 11,225 kilograms in emissions where Yellowknife only had a 3,470-kilogram reduction. The Yukon capital is also larger, with a population of 19,058, compared to 16,541 residents here in Yellowknife.

Only 1.8 per cent of Yellowknife's population took part in the challenge. Whitehorse, on the other hand, somehow managed to drudge up 3.1 per cent of its people.

"They must have really promoted it more then we did within the city. But we did beat cities like Ottawa," said Kelln.

British Columbia's central Okanagan region finished first in the competition.

The week-long competition, June 2-8, was based on which city could reduce air pollution the most.

The idea was to track participants modes of transportation and the distance they travelled throughout the week. With these numbers, the reduction of pollution was calculated.

"This is done using a model that calculates the number of kilograms of pollution that would have been produced had each individual been the sole occupant in a car, based on average car size and driving speed," explained a summary put out by Go For Green and Tomahawk Technologies.

Yellowknife will have to show Whitehorse some humility for its impressive second place standing while Van Tighem will have to do a little bit more to keep up his end of the deal.

"It's really good for our first effort to be fourth out of that many people but it's unfortunate that I have to now demean myself in front of the mayor of Whitehorse. I think he's sending me a Whitehorse shirt that I have to wear showing the fact that they are superior," said Van Tighem.

"They've had previous experience so, we'll whoop them next year. We'll up the ante cause they'll be over confident, right?"

Brian Kelln hopes to get more people involved and hopes that more participation will mean a higher ranking for the city.

He says his goal, next year, will be to get all the people in Yellowknife who are already walking, biking or busing to work to participate.

"Seeing that we lost and the publicity that that gets us, I think people might make a little bit more effort to improve on their participation. I know a lot of people who walk to work, they just didn't take the time to participate," said Kelln.

Yellowknife will spend more time making people aware of the challenge next year and sends its congratulations Whitehorse, its Northern Yukon rival.