My head is clear. I have happy thoughts instead of doomy thoughts. I explored the work of the Squamish Watershed Society, and ponder the immense carbon sink that a regenerated estuary provides.
Squamish is popular. The reports coming from global sources have propagated discussions around change; how it happens, who takes part in it, and how we manage our immense growth are conversations that have permeated our culture.
Discussion has been framed recently as industry vs. tourism, which leaves me contemplating the purpose of pitting two fundamental components of Squamish against each other. These issues have led me to great lengths of education, discussion, debate and dialogue about global and local issues around climate disruption. Discussions on equality, transportation, infrastructure, employment and energy have been prevalent. I have enjoyed hearing people rightly and passionately deliberating what our future holds.
I see these values informing our decisions in our budget and Official Community Plan review. This is where the community collectively gives input on how to fund the future of our land, our policy and our roads. We do not have the money necessary to maintain our current transport systems. The infrastructure we fund is financially and socially insufficient. We use outdated information to make decisions and rarely consider how our built environment affects mental and physical health.
As a society, we use economic metrics to measure our community well being, investing heavily in vague economic development concepts. What would Squamish look like if we used health or happiness as a metric? What if Squamish developed a Healthy Community Index as a framework to provide consistent, quantifiable standards to inform future planning decisions? Including health in all policies would be grounded in recognition that well-being is not a product of our health authorities, but determined more by policies and actions that are implemented by municipalities.
Our future cities need to have a plan for people. We need to integrate the idea that a city is much more than streets, buildings and spaces. It can be a living, growing organism where community health is our new measure.
