Project manager hopes city will reach Kyoto targets first
By JACQUELINE LEBLANC
leblanc.jacqueline@dailygleaner.com
Published Wednesday June 6th, 2007
Appeared on page a6
Collectively, every Frederictonian can help save the environment and it can start with a light bulb.
This is part of the message the City of Fredericton wants to convey to citizens when it launches its Green Matters campaign June 13.
The city is also launching a new website to help citizens reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by six per cent by 2010.
And this doesn't involve radical lifestyle changes, says Green Matters project manager Sonya Hull.
It can be as small as leaving the car in the driveway on a sunny day and walking to work, she said, or it can as big as applying solar panels to the house to conserve energy.
"City hall can't control what people do," Hull said.
"The best that we can do is engage them, help them feel ownership ... We want people to take pride in the fact that we could be the first city in the country to reach Kyoto targets." The Green Matters campaign launch, which will occur in front of city hall at noon, will give citizens access to resources to green their homes.
Hull said there will be a variety of booths offering hints on how to be more energy efficient.
TD Friends of the Environment Foundation will be giving out free compact fluorescent bulbs and JD Irving will be giving out free trees.
"If every Frederictonian planted a tree, that's a huge deal in terms of reducing CO2 emissions," she said.
During the campaign, which is scheduled to last until at least 2010, citizens can learn how to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. Their efforts will be measured every year, Hull said.
The city will keep track of car emissions, solid waste, and oil and electricity consumption.
She said sometimes citizens need to be reminded to keep their heat turned low or to try and conserve water.
The city hopes to reduce its corporate greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2010.
Mayor Brad Woodside said the city wants to lead by example.
"It's important that citizens take part because citizens want to take part," he said.
"I think most people, including myself, didn't know how to take part. They didn't know that one person could make a difference. I think what we're doing is enabling the public and the individual to do what they think is right to make a difference." He said the city wants to make citizens realize that one person can make a difference.
"Whether it's recycling, or using different bulbs, or turning more lights off, it all contributes," he said. "The more people do it, the better we are."