“Climate Change Sucks. Invest in a future less dependent on fossil fuels. Vote Yes.”
That’s the message a New Westminster woman wants fellow residents to keep in mind when they’re filling out their plebiscite ballot.
Two weeks ago, Cheryl Lewis and her husband Gary put the finishing touches on a large sign urging voters to consider the environment and vote Yes in the 2015 Metro Vancouver transportation and transit plebiscite.
“Even though the environment has been mentioned from the Yes side, and it’s certainly in all their products, I just thought I just really want to highlight this and have people think about investing in alternatives to fossil fuels,” Lewis said.
The idea for the sign is one that’s been brewing in Lewis’ mind for a while now. She’s been reading through the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2014 report, which provides an update on climate change impacts and what options still exist to limit the effects.
“Just reading this, it just packages everything to do with climate change together and how scary it is and how solid the evidence is behind it,” Lewis said.
About six months ago, Lewis began taking transit fulltime to and from her office in Vancouver – a trip that requires her to bus from her home on Amos Street to Lougheed SkyTrain station, where she takes the train to Commercial Drive and boards the 99 B-Line to Cambie Street.
While Lewis admits fossil fuels are used to operate the Lower Mainland’s transit system, taking transit is less detrimental to the environment than an entire population driving to and from work each and every day, she said.
“Because the transit referendum was coming up, I started to just really look at this from an environmental perspective, and if we’re going to invest millions and millions of dollars into infrastructure, I think climate change should be a consideration,” Lewis said.
After some deliberation with friends and family, Lewis and her husband built and painted the sign, and hung it out front of their home on Amos Street. The sign, which reads, “Climate Change Sucks. Invest in a future less dependent on fossil fuels. Vote Yes,” hung in their yard for about two weeks until one day they came home and there was a note on their door.
“We came home on the weekend and their was a note on the door from Andrea (Mears) saying that if we wanted a more high-profile location we could move the sign,” Lewis said.
Mears, who is known in New Westminster for her own controversial signs usually criticizing Stephen Harper, lives at the top of Cariboo Road and 10th Avenue. A lot of traffic passes by her home each day and Mears thought she’d help out her neighbour by offering a more visible location to hang the sign. On March 28, Lewis and her husband, who’d never met Mears before, carried the sign over to Mears’ home and hung it on the fence for all to see.
“Another thing that’s really come out of this is that sense of community. If I have other people comment on my sign, then it’s initiated interesting conversation,” Lewis said.
Lewis hasn’t decided how long she’ll hang her sign on Mears’ fence but hopes it’ll stay for the duration of the plebiscite.
The mail-in ballots, which were delivered to voters between March 16 and 27, are to be completed and returned by May 29. Voters who need to register can do so up until May 15, either online at www.elections.bc.ca/plebiscite or by calling 1-800-661-8683.
