By Dave Lazzarino
Edmonton Sun
We care about clean air.
Those were the words a Grade 1 class from Michael Kostek Elementary School, 5303 190 St., in Edmonton gave Mayor Don Iveson outside city hall before he declared Clean Air Day in the city.
“Not every day is a clean air day and we’ve understood more and more that one of the big risks to health and wellness in our city is deteriorating air quality,” Iveson told the kids who had taken time from their day with City Hall School to sit by a moss-covered bench and bicycle installed in Winston Churchill Square.
Iveson, who did his part by riding his bike to work, gave an overview of some of the things the city is doing to improve the air we breathe, including energy efficiency retrofits in city buildings, backyard fire pit regulations and investing in public transit to try and take cars off the road. But he also gave a nod to the role played by the city’s natural air cleaners as well.
“Everything the city does with biodiversity, particularly in our river valley and natural areas where we plant trees and preserve ecosystems, each one of these bits of vegetation does also contribute to clean air in our city,” he said.
So far the provincial government has expressed that greater building efficiency and renewable energy strategies line up with the city’s energy transition strategy. Iveson said there are still gaps in performance measurement that need to be filled and he hopes to be able to speak with provincial ministers about ways of making it easier for people to reduce their carbon footprint.
The statements just after Alberta’s new environment minister, Shannon Phillips, said a new provincial climate change strategy is in the works and will be released by the end of the month, just as the old legislation governing greenhouse gas emissions expires.
Iveson said the provincial approach may not just be good for the air, but good for the economic environment as well.
“The new provincial government’s talked about measures to support the adoption of more renewable energy as well as funding or financing tools to help people do energy efficiency upgrades, which not only creates jobs and builds wealth for people but it does improve air quality and reduce energy consumption, all of which are good,” he said.
Later in the day, Iveson joined Edmonton Oiler captain Andrew Ference at Northlands for the YOUth Power 5 event, a recruiting event for youngsters in the city. Iveson told attendees all young people in the city should have the chance to get the proper employment and training needed to succeed. Both he and Ference also took time to meet with and get pictures taken with youth.
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