Making the transition to renewable energy is no small task but two more Kootenay communities have agreed to try. Municipal councils in New Denver and Rossland have signed on this week to the West Kootenay Eco Society’s 100 per cent Renewable Kootenay’s initiative. It looks to make the transition by 2050. Nelson, the Village of Slocan and the Regional District of Central Kootenay are also included in the 11 municipalities across the country that have made the commitment. In BC, Vancouver, Victoria and Saanich are the others.
The Eco Society’s Executive Director Montana Burgess explains they start the process with community organizing. “Before we go to a community we want to make sure there’s community support for it. We’re not going to ask them to do something their community doesn’t want them to do as elected leaders. So, in each of these communities that have made these renewable energy commitments, we’ve been organizing in the community and having a lot of one on one conversations with community members, about renewable energy, hearing their ideas.”
They also start a petition which they bring to council to demonstrate the level of support. For example, in New Denver 189 residents have signed the petition, which is 37 per cent of the population.
In Rossland council was unanimously in favour, which Burgess says was great to see. “It was a really, really great discussion, hearing a lot of folks echo our values. Why we think it’s important to have green jobs and healthy communities, and clean energy and preserve our wilderness and forests and snow in the winter. So, it was a really nice time at council and it was great to be there and see their commitment moving forward.”
How municipalities will achieve that goal is still a work in progress, Burgess adds. “So moving forward, we’ll definitely be working closely with elected officials and city staff on developing a strategy for Rossland and the other municipalities that have signed on within a regional context for how do we get to 100 per cent renewable energy cause the answer is we don’t know in our region, it’s never been done before.”
The Eco Society is community organizing in Castlegar right now and when there’s support from one third of the community the Society will make a presentation to council.
You can find more details on the campaign here.
