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City seeks to maintain environmental reputation
Councillors consider ways to enhance Yellowknife's 'green' image

Simon Whitehouse
Northern News Services
Published Friday, January 18, 2013

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
As recent as the printing of the 2013 budget, the city has touted its reputation for being named the Most Sustainable Small Sized City in Canada by Corporate Knights magazine from 2008 to 2010.

These achievements largely came due to past work on community energy planning, the use of wood pellet boilers at city facilities, and increasing energy efficiencies as outlined in the building bylaw.

While Yellowknife's recognition by Corporate Knights has dropped off over the past few years, the city should still strive to retain its reputation for being sustainable, some councillors insist.

"I think it is more than just a word 'sustainability,' but it is about the quality of life," said city councillor Dan Wong. "One of the great things about Yellowknife is we don't have to spend so many hours getting to work ... (we can just) hop on a bike. It is living the life you enjoy and it is the city's role to make that as safe and as enjoyable and as affordable as possible."

Wong said the city needs to show outsiders that it is an attractive place for people to live. However, there is still room for improvement, he said. He wants to see the city achieve the greenhouse gas reduction targets laid out in the 2004 community energy plan - reducing city operations emissions by 20 per cent under 2004 baseline levels and the entire city by six per cent under the same levels. He also wants to make transportation, especially biking and busing, more reliable and efficient, and move forward with a district energy plan for city buildings.

Coun. Cory Vanthuyne agreed with Wong that winning sustainability awards is not the priority and that Yellowknife's reputation is already established. Past recognitions should be celebrated, he said, especially when considering the city's history and how it has transitioned from being a short-term thinking municipality tied directly to the gold mines to a medium-sized capital city where a stronger role of government and urban planning has allowed the municipality to look toward a "fixed future."

"I find it amazing that a city that is in the middle of remote nowhere has gotten recognition for the kinds of (sustainability) feats that southern municipalities should and could have beaten us on," Vanthuyne said. "These accomplishments are just because we have evolved over time in meeting the needs that citizens want to have while living up here."

Putting together a smart growth plan, a general plan and having more budget processes with a greater focus on long-term objectives have only happened in recent years and have shown the city can think about its long-term existence, he said.

Coun. Rebecca Alty said, compared to Whitehorse, she sees Yellowknife as having done very well as a sustainable city, especially in making amenities easily accessible.

"The one thing I have always enjoyed living in Yellowknife is how compact it is and we have gotten a lot of points for sustainability in the past for just being able to walk to the grocery store," she said. "Whenever I visit Whitehorse the one thing I notice is that I would definitely have to get a car. Right now I can get away without having a car."

She said while it isn't important to get awards, it is always good to get the recognition. As a member of the solid waste management committee, there are ways the city can build on its reputation, she said. Exploring ideas outside of the city and getting the most out of the aging landfill would be ways to keep a sustainable reputation, she said.

"There is always something we can strive to do better," she said. "I just found out last week, for example, that students at Yale (in Connecticut, U.S.) discovered a fungus that eats polyurethane or plastics. It is just about thinking outside the box because I don't think there is anybody right now adding fungus to their dumps."

Coun. Niels Konge said going after sustainability awards should not at all be the focus of council. He is a champion of the central heating project, as opposed to the Con Mine project, he said. Curbside recycling is another option where the city can continue to build on being a sustainability, he added.

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