They’re back, and bursting with ideas.

Environmental Stewardship Coordinator Nicole Ward and municipal Councillor Joe Couture spent last week at a conference in Chicago focused on climate change and sustainability. Organized by the International Council for Local Environmental Intitiatives (ICLEI) the Chicago event was attended by delegates from Canada, the USA, Mexico and the UK. Municipalities both large (Miami, Toronto) and small (umm, Jasper) were represented, and Couture said there was much to learn, no matter the differences in scale.

“We’re all facing the same issues and there were some great ideas,” he said. “The principles can be applied to large cities and smaller places as well.”

Jasper has recently launched its sustainability program, with the environmental stewardship committee set to hold its first regular meeting next Monday, and with brand new policies in place to ensure green purchasing practices. Couture found that many other communities were at the same place in terms of developing programs.

“A lot of communities are just getting started, the City of Miami hasn’t officially started their climate change program yet, for example,” he said.

Couture had his eyes were opened wide by many of the initiatives underway elsewhere.

“Lots of things I knew about, but there were many things that were new,” he said. “One thing I found very interesting was that in North America, some Canadian jurisidictions like Toronto are really leading the way.”

Couture made a brief report to council at Tuesday’s (July 18) regular meeting, where he added one other interesting tidbit.

“What was surprising is that communities are going to sustainable practices and they aren’t costing money, they’re saving money,” he said.

Ward echoed Couture’s sentiments in an interview with the Fitzhugh.

“It was really inspiring to see how much is being done elsewhere,” she said. “We are really in the beginning of the process, but we have so much we can learn from... when you go to these events you get inspired to be involved and be part of the movement.”

Ward was particularly impressed by the host city itself. Chicago’s green roof program has been the subject of media coverage far and wide, including the Sunday edition of the Edmonton Journal.

“Their city beautification program is in line with their climate change strategy,” she said. “They’ve done something quite amazing for a city of that size.”

Ward and Couture will present a more detailed report of their time at the conference at the next council meeting on August 1, but it’s clear that both are excited about the applicability of many ideas they discovered in the Windy City.

“We are a small community with a huge audience because of our visitation so it’s a tremendous way to pull it all together,” said Ward. “There’s really a plethora of ideas out there and it’s just a matter of deciding which ones fit for us.” 

Council’s conservation efforts may receive a boost from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, according to Couture. He reported to his colleagues that FCM has preliminarily identified Jasper as one of six communities across the country that will have a carbon emissions assessment. This exercise is expected to take place in the fall.