Stephen Rees’s blog

I hope you do not think I am being lazy just passing things along. And irritated because you have already yourself seen them in your own in box because you subscribe to the same email lists I do.

But this is very important and very relevant. I have already slammed Metro for the way it is conducting its consultation for the Sustainable Region Initiative - though how you can have Gateway and sustainability in the same plan beats me. And we have also been talking about how much energy we just throw away “leaving money on the table”.

So here is a press release from EcoJustice that was not on their web page last time I looked but may be by the time you read this. (It was forwarded to the lrc list by Ned Jacobs)

By Jim Boothroyd
Ecojustice (formerly Sierra Legal Defence Fund)

Did you know that city engineers are advancing a plan that would allow the
polluting Iona sewage outfall ­ at the mouth of the Fraser River, and at the
heart of a major environmental lawsuit — to continue spewing toxic sewage
for another 22 years?

Or that your civic authorities are timid about embracing proven technologies
that would allow Vancouver to “harvest sewage” to fuel fleets of buses, heat
whole neighbourhoods and produce profitable sources of fertilizer? (See
example at end of article)

Well, it’s true ­ and now is the time to tell them to look to the future and
clean up their act.

For the first time in five years, Metro Vancouver (the old GVRD) is
reviewing its plans for liquid and solid waste management and is holding a
series of public consultations to hear what you have to say. This is your
best opportunity to ensure that the changes coming down are the best for the
region for the long-term. Please consider taking part.

All meetings run from 6:30pm to 9:00 pm and include time for you to ask
questions of the engineers in charge ­ they’ll even give you coffee and an
oatmeal cookie.

Tues., April 22, North Vancouver (Capilano College);
Wed., April 23, Vancouver (Library Square);
Tuesday April 29 , Coquitlam (Executive Plaza Hotel & Conference Centre);
Wed., April 30, Maple Ridge (Maple Ridge Arts Centre & Theatre (The ACT);
Tues, May 6, Langley (Newlands Golf and Country Club).

For details, go to http://www.georgiastrait.org/?q=node/730

One last thing: if you lived in Stockholm, Sweden, this is what managing
your waste would look like. One of your many sewage treatment plants would
treat both sewage and kitchen waste producing biogas for fifty buses, rising
to two hundred in a few years. The plant would have a Business Development
Manager who sells biogas from her plant, as well as providing cooking fuel
for the nearby community of Hammarby Sjöstad. Energy recovered from sewage
by heat pumps would provide heat and hot water for a total of 80,000 homes.
The energy and material would loop between the plant and the community
mimicking nature’s closed cycles.

An approach to managing waste that is based on integrated resource
management and built on the idea of smaller distributed plants rather than a
few large ones is happening in other communities around the world,
protecting our environment and providing a sustainable source of energy.

The question is whether we¹re ready to bring that thinking here.

For more information on resource recovery from waste:
http://www.georgiastrait.org/?q=node/567

I note that none of the meetings is scheduled for the fourth largest city in BC and the home of both the offending Iona Beach and Lulu Island Sewage Plants

This sign is at Garry Point Park where I have often seen children paddling despite the warning. It is about two miles downstream from the Lulu Island outfall.