City Conversations: Can Vancouver Play in the Big Leagues of Renewable Cities?
WHEN: Thursday, April 2, 12:30 – 1:30 pm
WHERE: Room 1600, SFU Vancouver, Harbour Centre. 515 West Hastings Street
ADMISSION: Free event. Please feel free to bring your lunch
INFO: City Conversations website
Vancouver City Council has voted unanimously to support a shift toward the city deriving 100% of its energy from renewable sources. This places Vancouver on the global stage, alongside San Francisco, Copenhagen, and Sydney, who have all committed to the long-term goal of 100% renewable energy. The motion follows last week’s call for a Canada-wide shift to renewable energyby the Sustainable Canada Dialogues (SCD), a group of more than 70 leading Canadian academics.
What does the City need to do to meet this ambitious goal? How does it connect to the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan? How does this place Vancouver in the global renewable cities movement?
This week, City Conversations has have invited three people involved with getting the monition passed to initiate a conversation around these questions. We’re honored to host Andrea Reimer, Deputy Mayor of the City of Vancouver; and Claire Havens, Program Manager for Renewable Cities at SFU. We have also invited a Semester in Dialogue student who wrote a passionate letter in support of the council motion to participate.
Then it’s your turn to participate by asking questions, making observations, or sharing your opinions. If you can’t attend in person, you can tweet your questions, observations, or opinions, using #cityconv.
About City Conversations
Urban design. Culture and art. Planning and architecture. The environment, agriculture and food. Health. The economy and what drives it. Housing, neighbourhoods and special places. Transportation. Social issues. These are some of the topics of City Conversations, a series of Thursday lunchtime meet-ups at Simon Fraser University’s Vancouver campus.
Bring your sushi, sandwich and smoothie, and settle in for brief presentations from the most knowledgable people we can find on current topics affecting Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Whenever possible, we’ll provide experts with contrasting views, to get the facts out front and the conversation rolling. Then ask your questions and present your opinions, so we all can learn from each other. City Conversations doesn’t have lecturers and audience, but rather presenters and participants. It’s a conversation.
Make it a habit to drop by the first and third Thursday of each month. SFU’s Vancouver campus is only 100 steps from Waterfront Station, the heart of the region’s transit network. We start promptly at 12:30 PM, and end promptly at 1:30 PM, so you can get on with the rest of your day. No fees or registration, and just one favour: please unwrap your sandwich before the conversation starts.
City Conversations is a presentation of SFU Public Square. Sponsored by The City Program and SFU Vancouver.
