Doing good for the climate while forging ties with their neighbors is the mission given to the citizens who created Laval in transition. Portrait of a unifying movement.
Everyone has a role to play in the fight against climate change, according to Geneviève Dagneau, co-spokesperson for the non-profit organization Laval en transition. “You connect people, you feel less alone, and it’s less depressing. It can be done in pleasure, despite the situation of climate crisis, ”pleads Alexandre Warnet, the instigator of the project, who is now a municipal councilor for Laval-des-Rapides.
The Laval resident had this idea “which was sleeping in the drawers”: founding a project carrying socio-ecological actions for and by citizens. After observing several scattered initiatives in his city, such as collective gardens or tree planting operations, he wanted to bring them together in a single movement. “I used social networks to appeal to everyone. This is how, during the summer of 2019, Laval in transition was born, inspired by the movement of cities in transition created in 2006 (see box).
Towards a sharing economy
One of the first activities of Laval in transition was to organize parties between neighbors to get to know each other. “It was to get people to talk to each other, so that they could then lend each other tools or borrow each other’s car instead of having to buy one,” illustrates Alexandre Warnet.
Waste collection, association of bicycle enthusiasts, each citizen is free to launch the initiative he wishes and can thus ask for support from the movement for its implementation. More than 1,000 people follow the Laval in transition group’s Facebook page to keep up to date with the latest projects. In particular, the movement is piloting the Laval Zero Net Emission (ZéN) project with the Laval Regional Council for the Environment, an ambitious multi-phase initiative that aims to achieve carbon neutrality.
Relations with elected officials
One of Laval’s main challenges in the fight against climate change remains that of transportation, according to Alexandre Warnet. Laval’s 2018 emissions inventories also indicated that this sector alone was responsible for 69% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “That’s where it hurts. Laval is a big territory. Everyone has their tank and everyone wants to keep it,” he notes.
Although he finds it difficult as a citizen to have a concrete impact on the issue, he believes that the movement is still working to raise awareness of these issues.
And how are relations with elected municipal officials? According to Alexandre Warnet, now himself “on the other side”, some politicians are grateful for Laval’s contribution in transition, and others… know that he is there and take a close look at everything that happens. If the movement does not hesitate to underline the good moves of the City, it also goes to the municipal council to react to the less good ones.
For Virginie Dufour, former municipal councilor of Sainte-Rose, now president of the Association québécoise d’urbanisme, the discussions with the citizens of Laval in transition have always gone well.
She adds that the movement “forces elected officials to embrace change and not just talk about it.” The former politician therefore sees favorably the citizen movement, whose primary goal is to improve the quality of life in Laval. “When elected [et des citoyens] have the same objective, it is really the fun, because we support each other. »
What is a city in transition?
A first version of this article was published on Onepointfive.ca on March 4, 2021.