Local climate activist encouraged by city’s climate action plan

As a climate change activist, Bill James-Abra is encouraged by the climate action plan that was recently accepted by Stratford’s council.

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Despite this local progress, however, James-Abra still has “a general impatience with the situation we find ourselves in” when comes to climate change. One of the founding members of the local advocacy group, Climate Momentum, James-Abra says the key to inspiring more people to action is to help them capture a vision of what’s possible for both themselves and the city as a whole.

“Some very cool things are possible, but we need to help people understand what’s possible and get excited about it because the potential for saving money on your own home heating costs, as well as the potential for the whole city having more money in its pocket , is all available to us,” James-Abra said.

The plan, adopted by council at its Aug. 12 meeting, follows previous commitments from the city to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 30 per cent from 2017 levels by 2030 and achieve net–zero emissions by 2050. With only about five years to that initial deadline, “we will have our hands full hitting that 30 per cent mark,” James-Abra suggested.

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“The hardest part is the last mile, right? The hardest part is squeezing out that last few percentages of pollution that you’re kicking out,” he said.

The city’s action plan noted Stratford emitted 347,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022, or the equivalent of roughly 10 tonnes per person, with transportation making up 43 per cent of those emissions. If city officials take a business-as-usual approach and do not make any changes, emissions are expected to soar by per 20 per cent by 2050.

If things remained unchanged, costs for residents are expected to increase as well. Based on 2024 dollar values, energy expenditures for the entire community, including electricity, natural gas and transportation, are predicted to increase from $230 million in 2022 to more than $700 million in 2050. This represents an increase of $26,520 for a family of four to $60,870 for a family.

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James-Abra said there are three main components that excite him about Stratford’s climate plan. The first is its goal of a 10 per cent increase in local transit use while the second is an increase to tree canopy cover from 30 per cent to 40 per cent. James-Abra is also excited about the possibility of neighborhood power generation, where a neighborhood is able to meet is own energy needs using a central geothermal power system. While geothermal sources were not specifically outlined in the plan, it does outline goals for low-carbon — or even net-zero — neighborhoods.

While Stratford’s plan does not specify a date by which the city hopes to achieve the increased transit usage, the key will be treating transit as something that is used by people from all walks of life, James-Abra said.

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“I think folks who can’t afford a car are the ones who take transit, unlike in a city like Toronto, where everyone takes transit because it’s it’s more convenient than driving your car. I think that kind of social barrier has to be addressed for us to make transit perceived as something that the whole community shares, the whole community enjoys the benefits of,” he said.

A 10 per cent increase in transit ridership could reduce emissions by 17,000 tonnes per year, the plan notes.

Increasing tree canopy cover is an area that Climate Momentum is particularly interested in focusing on, James-Abra added.

“That’s a relatively straightforward and easy-to-understand method for making your city better acclimated to heat waves,” he said, noting that tree and shrub cover tend to be better in economically advantaged neighborhoods and that areas with tree cover can be as much as two degrees cooler

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Regarding geothermal sources, James-Abra pointed to the Berczy Glen community project in Markham, which will see the construction of more than 300 homes that will be powered this way. There is an opportunity to embrace the same approach here, even if it might take a bit of a different scope James-Abra said.

“So you take a project like the (Grand Trunk) site rebuild, and you set it up so that you heat every building on the site from geothermal that’s buried in the 18 acres of land that you have there,” he said.

The city’s plan, which James-Abra called “an excellent one,” has more “enough raw material in that plan to keep us amply busy for years.” However, there is some concern, given the city will not take any concrete actions until 2025 budget discussions start.

“(There is worry) whenever you come to a budget that other pressures will take precedent over climate and, historically, that’s been a problem,” he said.

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