Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. The environmental mantra has been around for a while, but St. Albert citizens are not getting the message and time is ticking away.
Last week city reports show that St. Albert is failing to meet some of the environmental targets it had hoped to achieve by 2020. The city is off target for emissions, water use, transit use and waste diversion – the very areas that citizens could have a direct and meaningful impact.
In 2008 the goal was to lower emissions by 6 per cent by 2020. Instead emissions are now 15 per cent higher than 2008 levels, in part because there are more cars on the road. Transit use fell for the sixth straight year, dropping 3.5 per cent despite a population increase of 1.1 per cent.
While we have made progress on water use – residential water use is at a record low of 230 litres per person per day – we have a long way to go to meet the 2020 target of 200 litres per person per day.
Waste diversion has been making remarkable progress but increased slightly last year, with waste per person rising to 123 kg per year from 121.8 kg last year. It is the second increase since 2015.
St. Albert Environment Advisory Board Chair Tanya Doran said she hoped the report, to be released in full later this month, will be a wake-up call for St. Albert.
"I certainly know we can do better as a city," Doran said.
She is absolutely right. We can and we must do better.
There are some simple actions citizens could do to help meet city goals. Reduce the use of water by shortening your morning shower by at least one minute. Choose products that have less packaging, and therefore produce less waste. Walk, cycle or take the bus – even leaving your car behind once per week could make a difference. While it's tough to brave the elements in cold winter, come spring we will have no excuse.
The City of St. Albert has made some changes that might contribute to better numbers next year. New water meters are helping identify and plug leaks sooner. The city environmental initiatives campaign is celebrating people whose efforts help the environment. The city is replacing street lights with more efficient LED lights. It has put home energy audit kits at the public library for citizens to identify home energy hogs.
Even the city could do more. Doran said the city should offer rebates to homeowners who get energy audits, similar to Edmonton's.
The city could also improve its waste diversion numbers by providing drop off compost or plastics recycling for city apartment and condo dwellers.
It is certainly easy for one to think that making small changes to one’s daily behaviour will make any difference to the environment. A minute less in the shower every day hardly seems a big deal, but if we all committed to it, the water savings would be substantial. There really is strength in numbers.
