City of Port Moody takes bold strides toward climate action

Port Moody has some bold plans for climate action coming to council on Tuesday.

A report created by Acting Mayor Meghan Lahti and Coun. Amy Lubik will be brought forward in a motion.

Some of the ideas proposed in the report include having 90 per cent of residents living within an easy walk of their daily needs, and setting a goal to have two-thirds of trips in the city done by walking, cycling or transit by 2030 instead of 2040.

Lahti and Lubik want to declare a climate emergency in the city, something that Lubik says is necessary with the geographical build of Port Moody.

“So much of our community is in the forest, and we need to be protecting that as we get hotter summers. Wildfire is, unfortunately, a growing concern and we are also on the sea so we have sea level rise to contend with,” she said.

Lubik is also hoping the Union of B.C. Municipalities will declare a climate emergency.

“We have 11 years and we need an all-hands-on-deck approach. We need every municipality doing as much as they can, we need every province to be doing as much as they can, and we need every country to be doing as much as we can,” she said.

The motion will be brought forward to council Tuesday night.

A rally is planned by environmental group Force of Nature Alliance outside city hall prior to the meeting.