Will Parker

I run environmental education programs that focus on developing participants ecological identities. I believe that we are all connected to the environment and that we can strengthen this identity by playing in nature and doing art about our connections. The environment needs all of our voices to be strong so that we can better understand the issues that arise as populations change. Wealth and privilege come with bigger environmental responsibility so it must be remembered that spending less and doing more things for yourself is good for the environment.
I am a board member and grave digging supervisor at the Dumont Creek Cemetery and burial society and I believe that doing things like growing food locally is the best way to fight climate change. I have a beautiful garden, raise chickens and have helped to hand dig around 50 graves in the last 20 years. I cut my own fire wood and am a steward of the land I live on. This means protecting the wetlands and maintaining a wildlife corridor for animals to have access from the mountain to the river.
I believe in supporting the local community Halls and having a thriving local community. Having community dances, art shows, farmers markets, and community meetings about about watersheds, land use, our lakes and rivers is fundamental to having an ecologically sustainable community. I care deeply about environmental issues and feel that taking care of things in the right way is the only way to achieve economic security.

I feel like the proposed climate action plan is a great start at identifying practical solutions to issues that can seem difficult to address. I believe in practical solutions and listening to the community about what the most pressing issues are. Water and food security are a big part of building a strong and resilient community. Wood chipping as an alternative to burning woody debris seems like a really good idea. I am glad to see that this discussion is happening. I love that the regional district is a part of so many practical approaches to addressing these issues as a community. I would support this approach and want to makes sure that the ideas stage moves forward to getting things started up and down the valley.

I believe there are areas of funding available for retrofitting houses and installing heat pumps. I support these programs but feel that they sometimes fall short of supporting people who do their own building maintenance and do not have the money to pay for a company to come in and do the work. Many programs have free assessments but then have specific requirements about how the work is done. Sometimes people living simply in small houses do not qualify for support making their places more efficient. Sometimes these programs benefit the people who have the money to make improvements but don't support people who are already using less energy. I would like to look at what is available in terms of support and look at ways these supports could be expanded to support the larger community.

I do not think this area would accept AI data centres and I so no reason to support that kind of development. These centres use many power and water but provide few jobs. AI is the wrong direction to move in. What we want are creative and meaningful jobs for thinking and caring people who know about the local issues.

I will prioritize an ecosystem approach to all decisions. Flood management starts with preserving wet lands and limiting development in sensitive and flood prone areas. As populations grow and the stress on local resources increases it is becoming increasingly obvious that we must protect more than enough resources for the current needs. We need to protect and strengthen watersheds and preserve more areas for wildlife and recreation.

I believe that wildfires are a big part of the collection of climate change issues that impact this area. I believe that increasing food security is the most practical approach to increasing the sustainability of this area but I will try to consider all of these issues. There is new federal government funding available for green houses to grow food throught the year and this seems like an important thing to look closely at.

I believe transportation issues are a fundamental part of addressing climate change. Public transportation and bike trails are a great way to make our community more sustainable and connected. These are priorities for me. I feel like the rail trail is a great start and an amazing community resource for recreation and connecting communities. It would be nice to see the trail networks continue to grow. I would like to see some walking bridges connecting more communities to the existing trail networks. It would be great to see the idea of connecting New Denver and Silverton with a bike trail come to reality. I would like to see busses on the weekend and look at the roots to see if there ways that more areas can be connected to the existing bus roots.

I have a masters in environmental studies and am an environmental educator but for me that means that I want to leave room for everyone to celebrate their love for the environment in different ways. You have asked many interesting, specific and in depth questions but I would not want to think that any of these issues would create division within the community. I believe that everyone cares about these issues but that money, language, education, employment, and other lifestyle choices should not be used to create a hierarchy of people who are more and less concerned. We need to leave space for all the voices and for all of us to feel good about deepening our connection with the natural world. The struggle is to include everyone in the solutions and leave space for peoples commitments to deepen. The real battle is for the hearts and minds of the community and we need to resist the temptation to blame or shame individuals. It is my belief that government and industry try to pass on responsibility for climate action to individuals. I like the idea of looking at our Eco-footprints for personal reasons of understanding our place in the world but I also feel that this idea came from fossil fuel companies as a way to shift the blame from them and put it back on the individual society members. This approach increases division and does not address the real issues. Thanks for these questions, they are important.