Whistler’s Mayor Walks (and Skis!) the Talk to Sustainability

While the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games strived to be the “greenest” Games in history, the Whistler community has had a longstanding goal of sustainability. Mayor Ken Melamed has been in office since November 2005 and can often be seen cross-country skiing to work in the winter. This grassroots effort at reducing his carbon footprint is representative of the community as a whole.

In fact, Ken is often asked to speak to other municipalities about Whistler’s integrated approach to becoming a low carbon community. Taking about 50 minutes, Ken slips on the skinny skis for his trek along the Valley Trail to Municipal Hall a few times a month. The Valley Trail is a convenient 40 km route that runs between the south and north ends of the resort. Twice, he’s returned home from work at 11:00 pm with his headlamp blazing! The other days, he rides the bus with other Whistler locals or carpools. In the four years he’s been in office, Ken has driven to work by himself just 12 times.

In September 2009, the Resort Municipality of Whistler committed to the goal of becoming the first carbon neutral community in Canada by 2010. Municipal council approved the ambitious Carbon Neutral Operations Plan that involves measuring the greenhouse gas emissions that come from government operations such as buildings and fleet vehicles and reducing those emissions to net zero.

By converting to energy efficient buildings, replacing old fleet vehicles and buses with hybrids (Whistler is home to the largest fleet of hydrogen fuel cell buses in the world) and purchasing carbon offsets, Whistler will bring its net emissions to zero. This leaves a carbon neutral legacy for the 2010 Games in Whistler and shined the Olympic and Paralympic spotlight on climate change and sustainability.

In addition, municipal council adopted a long-term sustainability plan in 2005 called Whistler2020 that was created by and is supported and implemented by the Whistler community. This vision features 16 strategies that inspire, align and guide the resort toward a shared future of sustainability and success.

While the 2010 Games come and gone, residents and visitors alike will continue to enjoy the natural beauty of Whistler for years to come. So strap on those skinny skis and hit the trails. You may even run into the mayor on his way to work.