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More thoughts from Heather...
What does sustainability mean to you?
Capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment.
Do you believe it is attainable?
No, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try and I will endeavour to prove myself wrong. Still, we must give it our best shot.
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Based on the situations of today, including the impacts of global factors such as climate
change, when you imagine the Okanagan 25 years or 100 years from now, what do you see — what stands
out?
Twenty-five years from now I see:
- A valley with warmer, wetter winters but with more weeks drawing from stored water in the growing season
- Mandatory Water Smart; more natural landscaping
- Most single-detached homes with suites and more high density housing
- Warmer water reservoirs; more forest fires (therefore, need to replace the carbon sink that our forests represent with extensive planting/seeding programs)
One hundred years from now I see:
- More work-at-home neigbourhoods
- Smaller personal space
- More public transit: alternate fuels, but still private transportation a luxury
- Wiser water management; expensive restoration and buy-back of key watershed areas and groundwater recharge zones
- Untouched natural habitats almost gone. The few that remain are no-go zones
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From your perspective, what are the biggest threats or challenges to sustainable livability in
the Okanagan — now and in the next 25 years?
- Lack of protection of public lands including watershed protection and shoreline protection, parks, ALR
- Invasion of forest pests and weeds
- Personal care products (hormones, drugs, antiseptics, antibiotics) entering Okanagan Lake from sewage treatment outfalls
- Lack of airshed protection with increased traffic and high rises
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Are there any other national or global factors that we should be paying closer attention to as
we plan the Valley’s future?
North American lakes are getting warmer and nutrient-enriched, paving the way for more serious blue-green algae blooms.
With flat land running out in the Valley, what is your opinion of the impact that increased
building on the hillsides will bring?
Stop releasing Crown land for development - use "greenbelts" to confine cities. On private lands, we can't stop it. The only way hillside development will work is if developers confine the building footprint to "pods" surrounded by three types of conserved land - parkland, natural wildlife space and agricultural space - so the flavour of the Valley is conserved in each development.
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Is there any way to undo or ameliorate pedestrian-phobic (or anti-pedestrian) sprawl such as
that found for kilometres along Hwy 97 in Kelowna?
Undo Hwy 97 sprawl - sure $$$$$.
Segregate incompatible activities e.g. industrial/gravel separated from residential/pedestrian/wildlife sanctuary.
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Should Okanagan municipalities adopt Green Building Standards such as those being tested
in Toronto and Santa Monica or require projects to meet the LEED rating system of the Canada
Green Building Council?
Yes, yesterday. It will save money in the long run and provide better social opportunities while in progress (trying to help is good for people).
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Dr. Gabor Zovanyi, professor of urban planning at Eastern Washington University and a
speaker at the 2007Building Sustainable Communities conference in Kelowna, argues that growth is not
sustainable given current ecological realities and that therefore, communities should be looking
at ways of stopping growth. So, what about the effects of population growth? For all the talk
about “smart growth” strategies, are we missing a crucial component when we talk about our
future by just assuming that our population must increase to sustain our economy? Should we
be looking at limiting or ceasing population growth? Does the Okanagan have a carrying
capacity? If so, how will we know when we reach that point?
Absolutely. The Okanagan has many layers of carrying capacity (available land, infrastructure, water, clean power). Water is a "mobile break point" because it is tied to the climate. A series of drought years moves the sustainability balance point. We may not know that we're stepping over the break point until after the fact, and it won't be a simple matter of tip-toeing back into the safety zone.
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Most of the talk surrounding issues of growth is focused on economic or environmental
concerns. Yet, there are clearly important social issues to be aware of and plan for. So, what
are the social implications to all this growth (or non-growth) that we should be paying more
attention to?
Socially, we need smaller, more cohesive pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods where impacts (dust, noise, pollutants) are minimized to guarantee a low stress residential area so people will want to live there long-term and develop true community.
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What mantra should Valley planners be chanting to remind themselves of how to develop the
ideal Okanagan community?
I have a few:
- Ordinary protection is better than extraordinary cures
- Incremental change is change none the less
- No net loss, period
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What practices being employed today in the Valley should we carry forward? What should we
abandon?
Practices to keep are many. Practices to lose include:
- Abandon the notion of community watersheds
- Stop allowing private use on public lands
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If you could implement or change just one policy for the benefit of future Okanagan
generations, what would that be?
Give the utmost priority to protecting our groundwater and surface water resources.
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From your perspective, what are the best reasons for having optimism about the Valley’s
future?
There is a large pool of talented, dedicated, creative forward-thinkers in this Valley willing to use their time/talent for the benefit of all.
From my work, despite the large increase in the number of homes supplied by Lakeview Irrigation District, their water use has held steady over the past decade, thanks to everyone using less water.
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