Last June the City had the chance to host the ICLEI World Congress 2009 and I was fortunate to chair the event organizing committee. It was exciting to welcome over 600 municipal leaders from 56 countries to Edmonton talk about environmental sustainability.
So what made hosting ICLEI such an important event for Edmonton? You may not know that Edmonton has an international reputation when it comes to our environmental initiatives and hosting the ICLEI Congress gave us the chance to share our knowledge while providing the opportunity for us to learn from other communities around the world.
It’s interesting to note that the membership of ICLEI is made up of municipal leaders. The truth is, most environmental action has taken place at the municipal level so who better to push it forward? When it comes to the environment, we’re all in this together. Every country needs to start taking action on things like climate change, clean air and water and reducing our environmental footprint. Gatherings like ICLEI show us that there are positive steps that any community can make.
But municipal environmental programs are only as successful as the citizens who support them. That’s why the ICLEI Congress featured a number of events for the public including an art show, a concert on community sustainability with local Indie musicians, an exhibit of crafts made of recycled or reused materials, as well as a concert featuring local school children. Hopefully you had the chance to take in some of these events and they got you thinking about what you can do to become more environmentally active and aware.
I think ICLEI showed many of us that environmental responsibility is often about simple steps. There are lots of things you and your family can do to be more environmentally friendly. How about taking the bus or walking more often? How about not idling your car if you’ve stopped for more than 60 seconds (except in traffic of course)? How about replacing your furnace with a high efficiency model or replacing your old appliances with energy star models? How about getting an energy audit of your home? How about switching your light bulbs to the CFL variety? All it takes are a few changes to make a big difference.
We all need to keep up with the things we learned at ICLEI and continue Edmonton’s international reputation as an environmental leader.