EarthCare Thunder Bay presented their annual report at city council, explaining their 2014-2020 sustainability plan and their achievements over the past seven years.
Sustainability Coordinator with EarthCare Amy Coomes explained the steps being taken in terms of keeping water in the area clean.
“To date, 25 green infrastructure or low impact development storm water treatment facilities have been constructed,” says Coomes. “These facilities provide treatment to over 22 hectares of land to treat an estimated 37,000 cubic meters of annual storm water run off.”
She goes on to mention their achievements in the area of land use within Thunder Bay.
“The Planning Services Division has worked hard to ensure that land use projects contribute to the vitality of the neighborhood they inhabit, and support the sustainability of the city in the long term,” explains Coomes. “In 2020, 90 per cent of all residential development occurred within the urban area, helping to counter urban sprawl.
Coomes than discussed EarthCare’s focus on littering, saying education is crucial in this area.
“We absolutely want to prevent a culture of littering, and we want to educate citizens on why littering is not good for our community,” says Coomes. “Our Spring Up to Cleanup, we want to celebrate not how many volunteers come out and how much garbage we cleanup, we want to celebrate how few volunteers we need and how little garbage we have to cleanup.”
She concludes by talking about next steps for EarthCare.
“We will be going out to the community, our working groups, and the advisory committee and surveying everyone on how we’ve done so far, what the community would like to see in terms of sustainability,” says Coomes. “We’ll be looking to see other communities and what they’ve incorporated into integrated sustainability plans and coming to council in the new year on everything we’ve heard and what other communities are doing, and presenting a plan that’s more fulsome.”
At-Large Councillor Rebecca Johnson praised EarthCare’s work, but says we need to ensure effort is being placed in the right areas.
“This is a very important document, and it was interesting that it does tell you where we were six years ago, and where we are now and we have made immense strides,” says Johnson. “I sometimes wonder if it’s one of those good things to do, and we do them, but at the same point in time are we really putting the energy into the areas that we really need to.”
Other areas of the plan that saw success was the reduction of greenhouse gases, and improving air quality by preventing idling by city vehicles.
