Yellowknife needs to prepare for global warming
Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Mar 23/01) - City officials say Yellowknife measures up environmentally against other cities in Canada but it still needs to prepare for the onslaught of global warming.
Mayor Gord Van Tighem and Coun. Ben McDonald recently returned from two separate conferences dealing with environmental issues.
McDonald, who attended the Winter Cities conference in Quebec City, said the city needs to prepare an emergency plan for extreme weather resulting from global warming.
"The science of global warming is becoming more confirmed," said McDonald.
McDonald said he learned temperatures are expected to rise three to five degrees in southern Canada as a result of global warming, but in Northern Canada the change is much higher somewhere in the range of five to 10 degrees.
"We have to prepare emergency plans to get ready for unusual storms," said McDonald.
"Disasters usually stop after two or three days, but weather disasters can stay with us for weeks." he said, using the Quebec ice storm as an example.
McDonald said the conference was an eye opener and he said Yellowknife needs to keep sending delegates to stay in touch with what's going on in other cities in the world.
According to Mayor Van Tighem, Yellowknife is doing comparatively well with other Canadian cities in when it comes to protecting the environment.
"We are very advanced compared to others in terms of technology and environmental strategy," said Van Tighem who recently returned from the Sustainable Communities Conference and Trade Show in Ottawa.
He said the city still needs some work in terms of recycling, citing it was a work in progress.
Van Tighem said a recycling method employed in Kelowna, B.C. could find its way to Yellowknife.
In Kelowna garbage is put into clear garbage bags then put on a conveyor belt in a sorting plant and separated.
"Their dump had an eight- year life expectancy...now it's 22 years since they implemented that strategy," he said.
"I'd like to see it implemented (here)," said Van Tighem. Both Van Tighem and McDonald said the conference allowed them to gauge Yellowknife against other municipalities.
McDonald said he's recommending Yellowknife attend next year's Winter Cities conference in Japan.
"Navel gazing won't keep us on the cutting edge," he said.
