The city of Surrey, British Columbia is out with a 90-second, animated YouTube video that connects big-picture climate solutions back to the benefits citizens can expect in their everyday lives. With guest appearances by cats.
“Yeah, yeah, we know, melting glaciers, fires, floods,” the voiceover begins. “But what if we told you that taking action on climate change could not only help tackle this global challenge, but also make life a bit better?”
Surrey has been thinking about climate change for a while, the video states. “Like you, we’ve noticed the hot summers, thick smoke, and increased flooding.” That’s what prompted the city to declare a climate emergency in 2019 and adopt “bold targets” to address it.
But it turns out that, through a city’s lens, many of the options for meeting those targets revolve around the places people live, work, learn, and play.
“We can configure our neighbourhoods to bring the things we need, like groceries, haircuts, and health care, closer to home,” the voiceover says. “We would spend less time in traffic and more time with our friends and families. We could provide more healthy and clean choices for getting around, like better transit and shared electric vehicles. And safe roads for walking and cycling. And for people with disabilities.”
Meanwhile, building energy retrofits could shift the community’s homes from natural gas heating to electric heat pumps, making them “more comfortable and more affordable to run,” the city notes.
“We can make some of these changes right away,” the video says. “Others will take time. But if we commit to action now, we can not only fight climate change, but also make life a little easier. And we’ll be prepared for whatever might come our way tomorrow.”
Did we mention that the video includes cats?
Tune in to get the full effect here.
