Vancouver - Greenest City 2020

As the mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson has worked very hard towards making the city an environmentally sustainable centre. Since he came into office, he has implemented something called the "Greenest City 2020 Action Plan".

This action plan includes ideas such as creating more bicycle pathways to cut down on the number of cars on the roads, and making it so that all new buildings are carbon neutral. Aside from these and many other ambitious goals, the plan also calls for the creation of over 9,000 jobs. Mayor Robertson is quote as saying that "The rapid growth in Vancouver’s green economy demonstrates how our Greenest City Action Plan is creating new jobs in our city, and building a diverse, more innovative economy". This means that not only will this action plan be benefitting the environment, it will also help the economy.

To read more about the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan, visit the site here.

Motorless Wheels

The weather has been getting warmer, and I've been feeling the urge to ride a bike out in the sun. It's been a very, very long time since I last rode a bike.

I've been waiting to see how the "Vancouver Bike Program" is progressing, and if it'll ever actually be implemented. The concept is pretty cool: there will be stations located throughout the city with bikes that you can rent and ride around. There are already several metropolitan cities around the world that have a system like this set up already, and it seems to work for them, so why not Vancouver?

What a public bike station looks like in Montreal.

I'm not sure about you, but I can't wait to see how this program will help to reduce the number of cars on our roads!

Green Bin Program - A Year in Review

It's been a little over a year now that the City of Vancouver has implemented the Green Bin Program. The program has taken a little bit of getting used to, but after a year now, most households have become more familiar with how to deal with problems that come with being green.

Here are some tips if you are still finding it hard to adhere to the program!

(1) separate your food scraps and garbage early in the stages - keep both the green container and a separate garbage can in your kitchen

(2) line your food scraps bin with newspaper to soak up the juices (the moisture is what causes odours and maggots ... GROSS!)

(3) thoroughly rinse out your green bin every week after pick-up day.