We chose to partner with the Fairmont Waterfront because of their commitment to sustainability.

• They have electric vehicle charging stations and offer complimentary parking to any guests with HYBRID vehicles
• Their 3rd floor, 2100 sq ft herb garden was one of Vancouver’s first “green” roofs and today provides much of the fruits, vegetables, and herbs for Herons West Coast Kitchen + Bar, and their special events menus.
• Over 500,000 honey bees make their home in the herb garden, providing over 600 lbs of honey which is also used by the culinary team at the Fairmont Waterfront!
• The hotel is a proud member of the Oceanwise program, offering sustainable seafood choices on all of their menus.
• They are actively engaged in energy and water conservation programs, as well as waste management programs on property.
• The Fairmont Waterfront continually gives back to the community and supports numerous local initiatives.

• • Your exclusive PCFF 2012 package includes:
• • 20% off “Rate of the Day”
• • 20% off all Food & Beverage during your stay
• • $20 donation to the Projecting Change Film Society
• • Complimentary parking for HYBRID vehicles
• • Complimentary 2pm late check out

We’ll also have a complimentary PCFF shuttle from the Fairmont Waterfront to SFU Woodward’s during evening film screenings.

Click here to book your stay!

Cynthia caught the travel bug when she was just two years old driving across England, Scotland, and France with her mom. When she began her solo adventures as an adult, she ended up in Mexico for five years and began working with GAP Adventures as a tour leader. She eventually moved back to Vancouver where she graduated from UBC with a degree in Latin American Studies and continued her love affair with the incredible travel organization, GAP Adventures as the Store Manager of the GAP Adventures Vancouver Concept Store. Check out my interview with her below!

1) What is GAP Adventures?

GAP is a Canadian company that specializes in small group adventure travel; the maximum group size is usually 15 people. There are a number of service levels to choose from so that travelers can decide if they want a bit more comfort or just the basics. We travel on local transportation, stay in locally owned and operated hotels; there is a tour leader along to take care of all of the logistics, arrange optional activities and basically take all the stress out of travel. We have over 1,000 trips to offer: safaris in Africa, hiking in Peru (our most popular destination), and volunteer trips like helping to save pandas in China, to name just a few. If you really want to get off the beaten path, we have a ship that sails to Antarctica and the Arctic.

2) How is GAP Adventures Projecting Change?

GAP is “projecting change” by encouraging people to explore the world in a responsible way, taking people to unusual destinations where they can learn more about the world and themselves through travel. We also have Planeterra, our non-profit organization, that helps to support community projects in countries that we visit around the world. Volunteering as a part of travel gives people the opportunity to see destinations in a completely different way and be more immersed in the local culture.

3) What sets you apart from your competition?

I think that our main core value says it all: “We love changing people’s lives.” This applies to our travelers, people we work with in the countries that we visit, and the people who work for GAP Adventures. There is a really strong company culture – everyone who works here has the title of CEO. It really is a large community of people who love to travel and are committed to making the world a better place on a daily basis.

A glimpse of our offices around the world:

4) What is “sustainable tourism” and what impact is it having on our world?

It’s about “taking only pictures, leaving only footprints.” Sustainable tourism means supporting local businesses, community projects and initiatives, and having a minimum impact on the places that we visit by keeping the groups small. To quote Bruce, “El Capo” and the founder of GAP Adventures: by “running our business in a way that respects people and the planet.” It is an action that is contagious.

5) Where is your favourite place to travel?

It’s really hard to say since all of my trips have been so different. Latin America is my first love, Mexico, and the Galapagos are definitely at the top of the list. Seeing the pyramids while riding a camel in Egypt, snorkeling in the Red Sea, and petting a lion in Zambia are up there, too!

From Australia and Thailand to Nepal and the Galapagos islands Cynthia has seen it all. When she’s not planning your vacations and adventures she can be found at the beach with her beloved basset hound or cheering on her favourite hockey team – go Canucks go!!!

- Lindsay (Jive Communications)

Q: Tell me about your work at the wilderness comittee?

The Wilderness Committee (the WC) is a really interesting place to work. The WC just turned 30 which means I am only 3 years older than it is. That whole time the WC has been doing grassroots organizing working in communities to help protect Canadian wilderness and wildlife. In the last decade or so that work has expanded to include more urban environmental issues like toxins and climate change. I am lucky enough to now be responsible for the Healthy Communities campaigns at the WC which includes climate change, toxins and transportation issues. We are trying to apply the lessons learned from on the ground community based campaigns to newer environmental issues like climate change. In practical terms this means working to stop the causes of climate change at their source. Fighting crude oil exports, coal mines and bad highway projects is “where rubber hits the road” in the fight against climate change in BC.

Q: Whats going on with the crude oil tankers on the cost?

In 2007 a decision was made very quietly to allow larger oil tankers pass through the Burrard Inlet for the purpose of exporting oil to Asia. This decision was made with no public consultation or even public awareness. For decades refined fuels have been exported up and down the coast but the export of raw bitumen from the tar sands is a new thing. Its only been the last years that Vancouver has been transformed into a tar sands shipping port. This makes Vancouver a very important choke point in the fight against the expansion of the tar sands. Not only is our coast now at risk of an oil spill but if we are going to play a responsible role in the world in the era of climate change this means phasing out the tar sands not expanding it.

The other significant threat to the BC coast is the proposed enbridge pipeline that would carry 700,000 barrels a day of petroleum products. This proposed pipeline would connect with much bigger tankers than the ones that can pass through the Burrard Inlet and would be over a days travel closer to Asia in each direction.

Q: How can people in Vancouver take action to protect our coast?

We are hosting weekly public meeting in the Wilderness Committee office starting in June on Wednesday nights. There are many ways to get involved doing anything from research to tanker tracking kayaking tours. The number one thing can do is help spread the word. Still most people don’t even know what is going on. Talk to your friends and neighbours. Send our info page to folks you think might be interested. Http://WildernessCommittee.org/tankers. You can join our grassroots distribution team if you would like to help circulate our publications. Contact our office for more information and to volunteer at 604 683 8220.

Q: How do you think an event like the projecting change film festival has the power to invoke and inspire social change?

Film is a powerful medium. We learn from stories and a picture tells athousand words. Also screenings bring people together. New relationships are formed that can make a real difference

One of the Projecting Change Film Festival 2011 films I am most excited for is The Pipe. I’m sure you can guess what it’s about… Join us for the Canadian premier this Saturday http://projectingchange.ca/schedule/the-pipe.

- Rebecca @rebeccaapeel

Last Wednesday, Yuri sat down and talked with Neal LaMontagne. Neal is a senior planner with the City of Vancouver, responsible for city-wide and regional planning. This means he’s part of the team responsible for the planning of the entire city. His division focuses on initiative like the Regional Growth strategy, eco-density, and the industrial land strategy.

Recently, Neal joined a team responsible for Vancouver’s Transportation Plan update. This team is made up of representatives from both the planning and engineering departments. This is in recognition that transportation is a city-building activity as much as it is a traffic-moving one.

Here is an overview of their discussion:

You’ve talked about the City’s Transportation Plan Update. Can you tell me a bit more about it?

Good transportation systems rely on strategic long-term planning. Vancouver’s Transportation Plan outlines an overall transportation strategy for the city. It sets out a direction consistent both with the regional transportation policy and the principles of the broader city plan. As Vancouver grows and changes, it is important that our transportation planning keeps up.

The existing Vancouver Transportation Plan was adopted in 1997. This plan put transit, pedestrians and cycling at the top of the city’s priorities. Overall, the plan have been successful. Both population and employment in Vancouver grew steadily between 1996 and 2006. This led to a 23% increase in trips to Vancouver. However, because of the re-prioritization, the number of vehicles entering and leaving the city has actually decreased by 10% over the same period! New trips have been by transit, cycling and walking.

We have completed almost all the 76 invitees outlined in the 1997 plan. In addition, we have met or exceeded most of the targets the 1997 plan set—many years ahead of schedule. As such, it is time to update the plan and look towards 2040.

Transportation 2040 is a two-phase consultation process:

1. The first phase runs from now until mid-July. We’re focusing on gathering ideas for Vancouver residents and commuters. This will offer a high-level view including our transportation successes and challenges to date, best practices and proposed goals. These consultations will form the basis of the draft 2040 Transportation Plan.
2. The second phase will be from January to March 2012. Then, residents can give feedback on the draft Transportation Plan.

To many residents, transportation planning seems dry and boring. Why should we care?

We all share the streets as commuters, residents and businesses. As such, transportation is something that effects everybody on a daily basis. Whether we are commuting to and from work, or school, going shopping, meeting friends or taking kids to hockey practice we are moving through the city. As a ‘complete city,’ Vancouver wants this movement to occur in a sustainable way.

In addition to impacting people on an individual basis (“am I stuck in traffic?”), transportation also impacts us on a city-wide level:

• It is central to our economy. The ability to move goods and services; and connect people to share ideas is central to our economy growth.
• It is closely linked to sustainability. If Vancouver is to be the greenest city by 2020, we are going to have to make some movement on how we move.
• It has a big impact on our public health, especially in areas like air quality, accidents and obesity.
• It matters in terms of community. Not only by connecting people within community, but ensuring that we keep public space for social interaction and celebrations.

As a general strategy, the City of Vancouver does not plan to expand road capacity. It will need to absorb growth without building new roads. Thus, the city needs to find other ways to absorb the demands of increased people, jobs, and trips without increasing the amount of traffic on our streets. The 1997 plan was able to do just that. The challenge for Transportation 2040 is how can we keep up with the trends of more people walking, more people cycling, and more people taking transit.

Image from TalkVancouver.com

Projecting Change focuses on individual efforts. How can residents of Vancouver get involved in the process?

The City of Vancouver is encouraging all city residents, commuters, businesses,neighborhoods and industry groups to provide input during the Transportation 2040 consultation process. We want to hear people’s approaches, ideas, concerns and where they see opportunities for improvement. The more people involved, the better sense we will have of what Vancouverites want .  this will help us realize our collective goals.

We are at the beginning of this process. Public consultations sessions start this week. There will be one on May 25 at Marpole Community Centre (990 West 59th Avenue) from 7 to 8:30 pm. there will be another at the Kitsilano Community Centre (2690 Larch Street) on May 26 from 7 to 8:30pm. Hockey fans need not worry, we’ll keep participants updated on games. You can find other public meetings on the Transportation 2040 events calendar.

But you never know where great ideas will come from. So not only do we want a collective discussion, we also want collective brainstorming to come up with unexpected ideas. A great examples of an unexpected idea implemented because of public input was the Laneway Housing initiative that came out of the EcoDensity consultations.

A lot of the city’s transportation initiatives will be small-scale, incremental and at the neighborhood level. One existing example of this is the city’s Greenways program. This is a project that has really relied on local participation, including neighbors planning their roundabouts and boulevards.

On a larger scale, the more people thinking and talking about transportation—even completely outside of the city’s process—the better. Additionally, the city would like people to try the different ways of getting around the city. If you normally drive, try out one of our bike lanes. If you normally take the bus, try walking along Main St, 4th Ave or Commercial Drive. Ride a skateboard, paddle a kayak, use a scooter. Taking a step outside your normal routine is a great way to get you thinking about transportation in our city.

Image from TalkVancouver.com

Projecting Change is also about embracing new technologies. How is Vancouver embracing social media?

The home base for public engagement is our interactive website, TalkVancouver.com. We will also be setting up a Twitter account, hosting discussion forums and a Facebook pilot project. Our social media strategy will be dynamic and adapt over time. We are really interests to see how people respond, communicate and interact. We learned a lot from Greenest City and hope to build on that.

For the less technologically inclined, we are still conducting public meetings and getting out to hear from people face to face.

“If you can get 15 people in a room together we’ll come out and have a meeting with you.”

Image from TalkVancouver.com

What role does an event like the Projecting Change Film Festival play in the City’s efforts?

We need people talking among themselves. An event such as the Projecting Change Film Festival is phenomenal for getting people talking and for people representing their ideas to each other. The more you are talking, the more you are thinking. The more you are thinking the more you’re being creative and coming up with really interesting and provocative ways for us to move the discussion forward. That is a phenomenal benefit.

“Even if were are no in the room, we want people talking transportation. And then we want people talking transportation with us.”

A big part of what the city does is communicate with the public; listening and telling our stores and ideas. We also want to facilitate a broader city-wide discussion. We want people talking not just about transportation, but about transportation in the context of the type of city we want to live in.

More Information

For more information on the public consultation efforts for the Transportation 2040 update, check out this video below or visit TalkVancouver.com.

Yuri -@YuriArtibise