Harry Warren

Council · Coquitlam

Neighbourhood:: Coquitlam
Years in the community:: 58

About

Harry Warren has been a past director of the Como Watershed Group years ago and has participated with removal of invasive plants with the city of Coquitlam’s Bad Seed program. Harry is also very knowledgeable about alternative energy sources.

Policy commitments

Buildings

We all want healthy, affordable, and comfortable homes. These policies will help to lower energy bills, cut pollution, and improve indoor air quality.

~ Incentivize electric heat pumps and air filtration systems. Neutral

✓ Incentivize renewable energy, battery storage, and smart-grid technologies in new and existing buildings to improve energy security. Supportive

✓ Scale up energy retrofits for existing homes, businesses, and public buildings. Supportive

Climate Justice

Our community is already experiencing the harmful impacts of climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution, and taxpayers are on the hook to upgrade and repair critical infrastructure.

✓ Enact a moratorium on AI data centres to protect our energy and water resources. Supportive

✓ Collaborate with Indigenous peoples as partners in the stewardship of the land, air, and water, and work towards reconciliation. Supportive

Ecosystems

The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat all rely on healthy ecosystems. Nature can also help protect our community from extreme weather by controlling floods, protecting shorelines, and cooling neighbourhoods. Access to nature improves the health and well-being of residents, and supports biodiversity.

✓ Protect and restore ecosystems, which are essential to human survival, health, and economic well-being. Supportive

✓ Expand and protect tree canopy, parks, and green infrastructure to cool neighbourhoods, clean air, and manage stormwater. Supportive

✓ Prioritize native tree planting in all areas, especially those with low tree cover, higher population densities, and more vulnerable residents. Supportive

✓ Create connected urban greenways for people and wildlife. Supportive

Land Use

We envision vibrant, walkable communities that protect nature and improve food security.

✓ Build affordable homes near jobs, schools, shops, and transit. Supportive

✓ Upgrade critical infrastructure for heat, fire, flood, and storm resilience. Supportive

✓ Increase food security by supporting local agriculture and community gardens. Supportive

Transport

Connecting neighbourhoods through public transit and active transportation networks will cut pollution, improve public health, and make our communities more affordable (and fun!).

✓ Advocate to improve regional public transit between communities. Supportive

✓ Build bike and roll networks that are safe for everyone. Supportive

✓ Expand EV charging infrastructure. Supportive

Watersheds

Climate change, increasing populations, and overconsumption threaten our water security. Healthy watersheds and forests are critical to support clean drinking water, stormwater management, climate resilience, and biodiversity for future generations.

✓ Implement water conservation plans and educate the public to conserve drinking water. Supportive

✓ Protect and restore watersheds as vital municipal infrastructure. Supportive

✓ Develop and implement a water security plan. Supportive

Zero Waste

Zero waste policies reduce pollution, keep waste out of landfills, build resilient local economies, and safeguard public health by shifting society away from a disposable culture toward a sustainable circular economy.

✓ Implement zero waste bylaws to divert organic waste and recyclables from disposal. Supportive

✓ Support the development of a circular economy to eliminate waste and improve resilience. Supportive

✓ Implement bylaws to eliminate waste from new buildings, renovation, and demolition projects and to use existing buildings as efficiently as possible. Supportive

✓ Supportive

~ Neutral

× Opposed

– No response

Climate action

How have you contributed to climate action in your community through advocacy, past work, advisory committees, volunteer work, and/or reducing your personal carbon footprint?

I have been reducing my carbon footprint - before it was even thought of. I have been recycling, minimizing garbage waste, gardening for food, using scrap wood to heat the home from carpentry work, using the ash to supplement the soil. I drive a small car and work from home, lessening the need to travel to work. I have a ten barrel water collection system that supplies my garden with rain water rather than city water. My next steps in my sustainability, is to install a solar powered system with a battery bank and a solar water heating system.

Questions for Coquitlam

To be community oriented, new housing development must be integrated with local infrastructure - jobs, schools, shops, transit, walkable nature, green energy. How would you ensure adequate infrastructure to support increased density and population?

It takes time to adjust housing developments to be mindful of what you are striving for. Infrastructure for any various development is always part of that process, through adequate schooling, shops, local jobs, transit, green energy and nature.

Tree canopies provide micro climate benefits. New planted trees reduce overall emissions by breathing in CO2 but take decades to reach mature tree canopy cover. How would you increase city retention of mature trees and establish adequate canopy standards?

Tree canopies are extremely important. There are times where trees need to be removed, but the city has a healthy ratio of replacement trees. We have many in our community that grow trees in their yards, I would like to have the city look at utilizing our home grown trees in tree planting opportunities.

Describe your position on early adoption and implementation of the Zero Carbon Step Code* for new residential buildings? (*introduced in 2023 by BC government to allow cities to limit fossil fuel use in new buildings to reduce CO2 emissions)

One of the reasons that I put a neutral on incentivizing heat pumps, is the huge electricity cost of such a system over time. A homeowner will have their electrical bill jump from level 1 to level 3 with the constant running of the pumps. The only way to counter the rise in power costs, is to install a solar powered system with battery bank to counter the increased power usage, which this more complete system is not affordable for those on limited incomes. It’s going to take a while before we can remove natural gas for home heating. I would suggest using clean burning wood stoves, with scrubbers to limit smoke, but we are always going to have an issue with achieving zero carbon - because of the affordability issue of having heat pumps installed and retrofitted to older homes versus replacing older gas run equipment. Homes are way too expensive now, a requirement for zero carbon step code will make newer home even more expensive. There is a way, it’s going to take more time to get there.

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Authorized by Force of Nature Alliance, registered sponsor under LECFA, info@forceofnaturealliance.ca

Vote4Tomorrow is an independent voter guide to evaluate where local candidates stand on climate and environmental policies that will affect our future.

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