Huntsville — Councillor — Chaffey Ward / Ward 2
1. What actions have you personally taken to support a greener, more sustainable climate?
The actions that I have taken to support a greener climate have been focused around trying to reduce the fossil fuels that we use in our home as a family of 4 on a day to day basis. To achieve this we have replaced our old furnace with a high efficiency furnace, replaced our gas hot water tank with an electric hot water tank, upgraded our older windows, changed our light bulbs to LED, and added more insulation to our home so we use less fossil fuels. My business is located on King William Street and rather than driving the bank deposit up to the bank everyday I choose to walk and do my errands rather than driving a car. Our family also helped to implement a battery recycle program at our sons school.
2. What opportunities for climate leadership at the municipal level (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)) would you champion in one or more of these areas: Buildings | Housing | Land use (sprawl) | Transportation | Other
The Municipality should look into more charging stations for electric cars in municipal parking lots. Over the last few years I have noticed a larger number of people driving electric cars and there just aren’t an abundance of places to charge those vehicles. Our local transit service could be expanded to include more routes so that less people would need to rely on a vehicle. Just like I have made upgrades to make my own home to become more efficient, I believe that we need to look into how to make the buildings that are owned by the Municipality more efficient so they use less energy to operate. Not only does this reduce our use of fossil fuels but would save tax payers money.
3. A long-term problem requires a long-term solution. What is your 100-year plan? If elected, what would be your first action?
My first action would to be focus on a goal that is achievable and something that the public would be willing to get behind. With high fuel costs these days, increasing the availability of charging stations for electric cars at Municipal parking lots would be something worth looking into, especially with the ever increasing number of electric cars that we are now seeing in our area. There will always be more than we can do but I believe that the Municipality is willing and able to implement new ideas and look for new ways to reduce our impact on our environment.