Young People and the Future

After five weeks in the James Bay area of Victoria, I have slid back in time to the more wintry climate of Salmon Arm. 

Today I attended a meeting of the City's Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) where I represent SABNES (Salmon Arm Bay Nature Enhancement Society). Usually the committee sessions are in City Hall, but today we met at the High School where we had an opportunity to connect with two teachers and some students there.

The focus of our meeting was to learn about the BC Tomorrow land use simulation tool.

From the BC Tomorrow website
http://www.bctomorrow.ca

This tool is being developed and piloted right here in Salmon Arm, based on something similar from Alberta. Apparently there is a lot of interest from other schools throughout the province in taking this tool to use it in their classes. 

Students learn hands-on about a range of key ecosystem principles. These include: 

The Shuswap Watershed.
The mapping of the watershed in 2010
was a significant step forward in raising
awareness about it. An environmental group
(Shuswap Environmental Action Society)
made this happen.

1. We live in a watershed. In the case of Salmon Arm, it is the Shuswap watershed - a headwater drainage of the Fraser River, one of BC's major rivers.
2. Nature, and human settlements and economies, are sets of inter-related systems. When we change one part of the landscape, it has ramifications on physiological (e.g. systems like water, habitat), social  and economic systems (e.g. available land for agriculture, industry, settlement). 
3. Cumulative effects must be considered in decision-making. One small change, such as paving a small area of a watershed, will have negligible impact, but the cumulative effect of paving more and more area of the watershed will be significant.

The presentation included video clips of students talking about how the simulator helped them understand inter-connections and cumulative effects. 

EAC members noted that the students who are in high school today will become decision makers one to two decades from now. The more decision-makers understand the complexities and inter-relationships of land use and natural systems, the better.

Developing this tool has taken a huge amount of effort. The utility of the tool relies upon the accuracy of the relationships being modelled, so good data is essential. And, the tool is "apolitical"; it assumes best practices are employed in each of the sectors being modelled, but does not finger-point or blame. Its development has been led by a non-profit society, rather than the Ministry of Education. 

It was gratifying to see that there is interest from elsewhere in this innovative learning tool, and to recognize the many creative, thoughtful people in this community that have led to its development. 

Salmon Arm from Tappen
Source: Creative Commons: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/SalmonArmFromTappen.JPG

I always find the meetings of the Environmental Advisory Committee inspiring because of the insights and perceptions of the participants around the table. There is also considerable frustration. Members are well aware of the severity of environmental issues globally, the slowness of governments to make change, and the need for inspiring, committed leadership.

Another innovative step that Salmon Arm has taken is to have representatives from the high school Youth Council attend City Council meetings. Once a month Council makes time for these young people on the agenda, giving them an opportunity to provide comments and feedback. An article in the March All Month AM (friam.ca) written by the students notes with appreciation the help they have received from members of City Council. These young people are now more politically literate, understanding the ropes of municipal government, and knowledgeable about things such as budgeting, zoning bylaws and the development approval process.

This morning at the EAC meeting a fellow committee member asked two of the young people sitting near her if they had heard of the Swedish student Greta Thunberg, and the movement of student climate strikes. Those two particular students were not aware of this movement, and of the story of Greta's decision to strike every Friday, to raise awareness in her own country about the need for more action towards meeting its climate commitments.

BBC image November 30 2018 - Student strike in Australia
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46380418. Getty Images

Student climate strikes have spread around the globe; there was one in Victoria the day that we arrived. Here is a journalist's photo of the event:

Victoria students on stirke February 1 2019
Source: www.peninsulanewsreview.com/news/victoria-youth-skip-school-for-climate-strike/ Credit: Keri Coles

Tomorrow, Friday March 15, is the day of the world-wide school strike by young people. I don't know how many will be striking in BC; I am told there is at least one planned, in Nelson.  

Let's hope that the energy and pressure of young people such as these will hold decision-makers accountable, and push them to make the tough decisions we need to reduce carbon and other climate-altering emissions.

Pondering Snow and Rain

Snow in Victoria.... an uncommon occurrence.

Here was the monochromatic view out our window this morning.

All this snow has got me thinking about watersheds. Where does the runoff go when the snow melts? And how does paving natural areas affect the cycle?

This image from the website waterbalance.ca shows the earth's water cycle and how urban development affects pollution of both surface water and groundwater.

The image below, from the US Geologic Survey, does a better job of showing snow melt as part of the water cycle. However, it does not show urban areas, and the impact of urban development on water quality and groundwater quantity.

Years ago I met an engineer, Tom Holz, who had pioneered what he called Zero Impact Development in Seattle. This is an approach to urban development to try to mimic nature, and keep rainfall and meltwater in place as much as possible, rather than piping it "away".

Zero Impact Development is also termed "Green Infrastructure":

• Subdivisions are developed with a lower proportion of hard surfaces, and more "permeable" or water absorbing areas.
• Runoff in parking lots is directed to areas of permeable soil. 
• Streets are narrower than the standard subdivision width.
• Street development includes wide strips of deep soil to absorb rainwater without runoff. The photo below illustrates this. A swale, or depression, keeps water from running onto the roadway.
• Zero Impact Development favours alternative ground covers to traditional lawn grass, which is not very effective at absorbing water during rainfall events. 
• Benefits include reduced runoff, thus reducing the risk of flooding and erosion. 
• Overall, water pollution is reduced, because runoff water is filtered by the soil, before seeping out into lakes, rivers and the ocean.

Stormwater Swale - a feature of Zero Impact Development. Source: The Nature Conservancy

I would like to see more communities adopt this approach to managing urban runoff.

For more information, refer to the EPA publication "Expanding the Benefits of Seattle's Green Stormwater Infrastructure" (EPA 832-R-16-011, January 2017), available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-03/documents/seattle_technical_assistance_010517_combined_508.pdf

The image below shows how individual properties can help manage stormwater runoff, by planting "rain gardens", areas where water can be diverted, with deep spongy topsoil and water-loving plants.

Source: http://www.thewalleye.ca/event/rain-garden-tour-2 (Thunder Bay, Ontario)

Climate change is leading to more severe storm events. Planning for stormwater runoff can protect our urban infrastructure from flooding, as well as protect water quality.

It is essential we change our ways of developing subdivisions.