From 2017 to 2019, With myself as team leader, Tri-Cities Force of Nature gathered nearly 1000 signatures on a petition asking the city to adopt the greenhouse gas emissions targets set by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In December 2019, we made a delegation to Coquitlam’s Environmental Sustainability Committee. I made a speech alongside high school student named Jessica Liu. At the end of the meeting we were overjoyed when the committee voted unanimously to recommend that council adopt these climate targets. You can read a story about this from the Tri-City News.
In January of 2022, the City of Coquitlam published an environmental sustainability plan. The plan includes climate targets that would reach “carbon neutrality” by 2050. When we read the plan, Tri-Cities Force of Nature was overjoyed. Coquitlam now has a plan to make all of the “corporate” or city operations as well as the “community” – citizens and businesses activities emissions reduced to net-zero. This is a great first step and this year, 2022, a climate action plan is a priority for the city. All of the volunteers and supporters of Force of Nature need to take credit alongside the city council, environmental sustainability committee and city staff. We now need to work together as a community to get our citywide emissions to net zero. On council I will bring practical solutions to get us moving towards a truly clean 2050.