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Watching my local governments lag on climate mitigation, wondering if there's a simpler framework for action? Here's a crack at one for a not-big-city BC context:
1) Land Use - stop approving single family home developments, densify existing areas, build only "15 minute" neighbourhoods. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/9/6/7-rules-for-creating-15-minute-neighborhoods
2) Mode Shift - where people can't walk, lay on good transit and protected bike lanes, and discourage cars (which these days are mostly SUVs and trucks).
3) Buildings - mandate the Step Code at the highest levels and fastest timeline for new buildings; go after fed and prov $ for existing building retrofits. https://energystepcode.ca/
4) Stored Carbon - acquire municipal lands to plant trees; pass tree bylaws for other areas
5) Other Measures - everything else including corporate emissions, waste reduction, EV charging stations, etc
Thoughts? Clearly number one is most controversial since it challenges developers who want to keep cranking out sprawl, and the municipal staff who want to rationalize that.
But it's foundational to number 2, number 3 (single family homes are the least efficient too), and number 4. More sprawl = going backwards. We need a reckoning on this point. https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/03/04/Climate-Catastrophe-Sprawl/
