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One Day in Vancouver
 

EARTHFUTURE.COM by Guy Dauncey

 


One day, Vancouver will be the cleanest, greenest, healthiest city in the world. Poets will wander safely down the middle of Robson Street and pedestrians will sit and listen to them speak.
One day, the waters of Burrard Inlet will be pure and people will fish and raise shellfish there.
One day, every rooftop in Vancouver will boast a solar hot water heater and solar PV shingles.
One day, Cambie Street will have two lanes for cars and four for bicycles, so that the faster cyclists can overtake the slower ones. Red-tailed hawks will nest in the rooftops above Georgia Street.
One day, far fewer people will own cars. Many will be members of Vancouver's Cooperative Auto Network, and use a car only when they need to. Most cars will be electric; the rest will be bio-fueled plug-in hybrids that run on electricity for most local trips.
One day, Vancouver will be powered by the wind and the tides, as well as the big dams, and every new home will produce its own energy from the sun, wind or earth. No one will burn coal, oil or gas any more, unless people capture and store the carbon.
One day, we will raise the dikes around Richmond, Delta and Surrey to keep out the rising ocean, but we will have learned our lesson.
One day, each fall, there will be a citywide celebration of food and farmers. On every street, neighbours and friends will bring tables and feast on locally grown organic food, with music, dancing, locally brewed ale and mulled herb punch.
One day, 16 and 17-year-olds will also have the vote, and we will celebrate each election as a festival of vision and ideas, not a boring rehashing of old promises and clichés.
One day, every street will be like a small village. We will chat together, play together and take care of each other's children. When people are house hunting, they will ask, "Is this a warm street, where people care for each other?" The delight of each community will be its diversity and the ethnic, sexual and religious differences of its people.
One day, there will be no more poverty. Every citizen of Vancouver will believe in herself or himself, and people will support each other as they walk, run and fly toward their dreams. Community banks will help them build sustainable local economies, and encouragement centres will help them fulfill their dreams.
One day, all of Vancouver will share in a community resources exchange; everything will be re-used or recycled, and there will be no more garbage. People will be shocked to think there was once a time when we trucked our waste to giant garbage heaps, far from the city.
One day, there will be almost no flying. Instead, there will be giant screens where people can touch hands, lips and hearts across the world.
One day, tree frogs will sing each night in February in the wetlands that have been created to gather storm water and treat local sewage.
One day, not a single pesticide will be used in this city. In the fall, people will gather their leaves and spread them on their gardens, thinking, "This will help my vegetables grow."
One day, there will be no more cancer, Alzheimer's or asthma. Toxic products and toxic air will both have disappeared, and people will protect their bodies with organic food and healthy habits.
One day, Vancouver's churches and temples will welcome people of all faiths, to worship or meditate in whatever way they choose.
One day, with the gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles gone, silence will return to the streets. We will wonder at the joy of it.
One day, we will switch off all the night lights, and the sky will be truly dark again. We will sit on our rooftops on warm summer nights and gaze at the infinite universe.
One day, the aliens will arrive, and they will smile at us, thinking, "At last, they have become civilized." We will smile back and stop calling them aliens.
One day, every day will be filled with purpose and hope.
One day, if we take it one step at a time, all this can be ours.
One day, in Vancouver.

Guy Dauncey is president of the BC Sustainable Energy Association (www.bcsea.org), publisher of EcoNews, and author of Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change. www.earthfuture.com

 
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