The Livable Blog

About 50 people came out in the cold last night to say yes to better public transit, and no to the Gateway freeway expansion. We shut down construction for the day, leaving at midnight, and got our message out loud and clear.

“As a citizen it breaks my heart to see Canada drag its feet on climate change, through support of the worlds dirtiest fuel: tar sands,” said Patrick Condon. “As a resident it breaks my heart to see the Vancouver region abandon livability and sustainability through the construction of more freeways. As a parent I can’t look in the face of my kids and grandkids if I don't do what I can to stop the madness.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyEg_y8POgo

PRESS RELEASE
Award Winning Academic to Risk Arrest by Blocking Freeway Construction
UBC Professor says “stop the madness”

VANCOUVER, BC – On Monday December 7th at 8 pm, UBC Professor Patrick Condon will risk arrest by occupying a freeway construction site in Vancouver. The protest coincides with the first day of climate change talks in Copenhagen, where today Canada received yet another Fossil of the Day Award. The notorious award goes to the country doing the most to obstruct progress at UN climate negotiations.

This protest is directed at the controversial Gateway Program, a massive freeway-expansion project that would increase greenhouse gases (GHGs) in a sector that is already the largest source of emissions in our region. The province's own assessment estimates the increase at over 160,000 tonnes per year. If the billions being spent on Gateway were re-directed to an emissions reduction program including cost-effective public transit,
emissions could be reduced by millions of tonnes per year.

The Gateway Program is linked to a larger Pacific Gateway strategy that includes pipelines to the Alberta Tar Sands, Canada's largest point source of greenhouse gas emissions. Cars and trucks in BC already burn fuel made from tar sands bitumen, and the proportion of this dirty tar sands fuel in our gas tanks is increasing.

“As a citizen it breaks my heart to see Canada drag its feet on climate change, through support of the worlds dirtiest fuel: tar sands,” said Patrick Condon. “As a resident it breaks my heart to see the Vancouver region abandon livability and sustainability through the construction of more freeways. As a parent I can’t look in the face of my kids and
grandkids if I don't do what I can to stop the madness.”

Patrick Condon is a senior researcher at the UBC Design Centre for Sustainability and has held the position of the James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Livable Environments.

He is joining a diverse group including small business owners, graduate students, farmers, church environment committees and the son of renowned urbanist Jane Jacobs.

For more info on this event and the Gateway Project see
http://www.gatewaysucks.org
Follow all the breaking news via http://twitter.com/gatewaysucks