You know, there are days when I really despair for Winnipeg, and never more so than on Nov. 22, when the city’s standing policy committee on water, waste and the environment refused to do a study on actions the city might take to phase out natural gas heating.
I’ll say that again — the committee refused to vote to direct the city to even study the issue. Instead they received the motion as “information.”
Which basically means it will sit on a shelf gathering dust, alongside the city’s climate action plan and its community energy investment road map (CEIR), a guide detailing the steps the city should take to reach net zero by 2050.
Why does that matter? Well, it’s significant because 44 per cent of our city’s carbon emissions are the result of natural gas heating in homes, businesses, industrial buildings and institutions, including those owned and operated by the city.
So why did the committee refuse to vote on the motion?
If you can believe it, one of the reasons given by its chair, Evan Duncan, was that the city could not go it alone phasing out natural gas and switching to renewables like geothermal.
Duh, you think? Of course the city can’t go it alone phasing out natural gas!
Here’s the thing — the phase-out motion spearheaded by the city’s climate action and resilience committee did not assume, nor even imply, that phasing out natural gas heating was something the city could accomplish solo.
They simply asked for a study researching what the city could do. A study which, presumably, would also have determined what funds might be available from provincial and federal sources to assist Winnipeg in a phase-out plan.
Research to determine, for example, what money might be available to assist in retrofitting city buildings. An earlier city study demonstrated retrofitting 15 civic buildings would cost $51 million. That cost would be offset by lower carbon tax bills, saving the city over $1 million a year.
Which doesn’t even begin to calculate what it might save on energy bills by switching to renewables, nor additional money the city might accrue by selling any surplus clean energy back into the grid.
Now it’s true the city is currently in a financial crunch and has other essential projects on the books, like upgrading its main sewage facility.
That said, it’s also throwing money at non-essential projects like the plan to widen Kenaston Boulevard. So why are we spending money on design and business studies for widening Kenaston — ultimately, a recipe for increasing emissions — and not moving forward on a study examining how Winnipeg might phase out natural gas heating, an action aimed at reducing emissions?
It’s a bit of a puzzle, isn’t it, and it explains why Coun. Brian Mayes, chair of the climate action committee, is all but apoplectic about the city’s failure to fulfil its promises.
In the public hearing on the phase-out motion, Mayes observed that city council, “… undoubtedly voted for the climate action plan; we undoubtedly voted for the CEIR. So how do we translate that into action?… At some point it’s just theatre, if you don’t do something.”
In the end, Mayes was outgunned by his fellow councillors, Duncan and Shawn Dobson, the motion was received as information rather than being put to a vote, and Winnipeg’s theatre of the “Talk big, do little or nothing,” continues.
Although to be absolutely fair, the committee did vote in favour of an impromptu motion made by Mayes to ask the city, to ask the province, what it’s doing on geothermal.
Right. I can just imagine that phone call: city to province: “So what’re you doing on geothermal?” Province: “No details yet.” City: “OK, well, call me back when you have something.”
And that’s the way it will go, until we all kick up a bit of fuss. The kind that floods our representatives with letters, calls and emails, asking them what the heck they’re doing to get us to a 40 per cent emission reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050.
The kind that gets you engaged — as a donor, volunteer or sponsor — with climate action organizations like the MB Energy Justice Coalition, Climate Change Connection or the Green Action Centre, to name just a few.
Look, cities around the world, particularly those in Europe, are taking aggressive action on emission reduction and resiliency plans to protect their citizens and the planet.
Isn’t it long past time Winnipeg did the same? Isn’t it time for us to all stand up and demand action?
If you agree then start making those calls and writing those emails.
Now.
Erna Buffie is a writer and science filmmaker. Read more @ https://www.ernabuffie.com/
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