Driving less.

Buying local.

Planting trees.

Taking meat off the menu.

To varying degrees, most of the 13 people who made Kingston the first municipality in Ontario to declare a climate emergency are at least trying to walk the walk when it comes to fighting climate change on the home front.

Two months after Kingston city councillors unanimously voted to declare a climate emergency, the Whig-Standard asked them all a series of questions about their own efforts to reduce their personal environmental impact.

What changes are they and their families doing to fight climate change? What is the biggest change they have made? How have these changes affected their daily lives?

Vehicles and homes, among the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, were also where many councillors sought to make their biggest changes.

For others, simply acknowledging that there is an issue is enough.

“The biggest change for my family and I has been how we talk about the environment more often in our daily lives and in the decisions we make, to reduce waste and energy use where we can,” Mayor Bryan Paterson said. “We’ve also talked seriously about making our next vehicle an electric one.

“We’ve noticed that you become increasingly aware of your environmental impact the more you implement changes to reduce that impact,” Paterson said. “For example, when you start to take measures to reduce your waste, you become increasingly aware of how many single-use products are on the market. Realizations like these encourage us to be more mindful of what we consume and buy on a regular basis.”

“In my life I have always had a keen sense to care for our earth,” Countryside District Coun. Gary Oosterhof said. “Growing up in a rural setting kept me very close and connected, and this has impacted my day-to-day lifestyle.

“I remember as kids we would remind the adults that they should not throw out their cigarettes from the car windows and we were successful in influencing change. Today, well into my life and having raised a environmentally aware family, I know that the world is growing weary and needs much more care and protecting than ever.

“For my family, the most recent and intentional changes we have made is to reduce the amount of red meat we consume.”

Loyalist Cataraqui District Coun. Simon Chapelle declined to answer any of the questions submitted to him. In particular, Chapelle objected to questions about his family.

“I respect the interest, and innocence of the question, but do not support the profiling of the families of council in the way that you are prompting,” he said.

Instead, Chapelle criticized other councillors, namely Trillium District Coun. Robert Kiley and Meadowbrook-Strathcona District Coun. Jeff McLaren for walking away from the climate emergency issue after the declaration was passed and moving on to other issues.

“Most of my fellow councillors have instead jumped out of the climate issue with both feet to go all in on other matters where delegations are present and waiting to applaud. This seems to be a regular occurrence with a new crisis of the week,” Chapelle said. “Therefore, it doesn’t matter what those councillors and their families are doing at home with reference to the survey you have put forth about the climate action of councillors and their families. That diversion pales in comparison to what Council and councillors have the possibility of doing and ought to have been doing at council.”

“I try to drive less and do more one-stop shopping,” Collins-Bayridge District Coun. Lisa Osanic said. “We drink tap water; not bottled water. We have bought steel straws. We reuse, reduce, recycle. I do the laundry in cold water. I try to do my council meetings and committees electronically as much as possible. I use scrap paper whenever possible for notes.

“I’ve never been a big fan of air conditioning, so I try to go all summer or as long as possible during heat waves without using it. Our lights are LED. I plant trees each year at Lemoine Point. I try to always make coffee at home, or for refills I try to bring my mug to the coffee place to be refilled,” Osanic said.

“I never thought about where the off-season food was coming from before. Now I try to buy local and, during the winter, buy food that comes from as close to Ontario as possible.”

“The biggest change for us is our awareness and our willingness to speak out about the issue,” Lakeside District Coun. Wayne Hill said. “We are trying to do things better in our own home by reducing waste, using hydro in off-peak hours, relying less on personal vehicles, etc., but my most significant contribution will be what I can do as a councillor to get the word out and work with the city to make significant changes in our practices so that we can achieve our GHG emissions targets and get to carbon neutrality as soon as possible, and hopefully by 2040.

“I am not complacent anymore. It is so easy to say that our efforts are insignificant, but change is going to come because people at the grassroots decide it is important to them,” Hill said. “A good example is that despite governments who are challenging carbon taxes without proposing solutions, you see more and more companies highlighting their efforts to reduce GHG, and that is because they are responding to their customers.”

“When we bought our house it needed a lot of repairs,” Portsmouth District Coun. Bridget Doherty said. “We took this opportunity to insulate everywhere we could, including the basement; installed a high-efficiency wood stove; bought triple-pane windows and solar panels.

“Unless it’s raining, I walk to city council meetings. (Coun. Hill drives me home, so he’s helping, too!) I try to walk as much as I can and cycle when the weather is better (a great way to get exercise). I drive when I have back-to-back meetings in different locations and sometimes take the bus,” Doherty added. “We would like to buy a hybrid or plug-in car, but, like everyone else, we have to budget. We have two kids attending university in September with a third in high school.”

“I car share with friends and family. When I need to drive, it’s usually a Toyota Prius hybrid,” Trillium District Coun. Robert Kiley, the author of the city’s climate emergency declaration, said.

“I am more healthy and I know I am helping the planet. These changes are an investment in the future with benefits in the present.”

“I buy local food as much as possible,” Kingscourt-Rideau District Coun. Mary Rita Holland said. “My daughter is learning to take transit and we both plan to use transit more in the future. We mostly buy used clothing and household items and are making the transition to a vegetarian diet.

“We avoid single-use plastics and overly packaged items in the grocery store. I’m growing tomatoes and basil from seed in an attempt to learn more about sustainable food practices,” Holland said.

“Changing our diet has been the biggest change for my daughter and me. I had wanted to be vegetarian for quite some time but finally made the decision after the UN report on the imperative to address climate change in the next 11 years. My daughter is equally concerned about climate change and is very interested in reducing our carbon footprint.”

Meadowbrook-Strathcona District Coun. Jeff McLaren said he has a long-term plan that started in 2012 to reduce his climate profile.

“First was to move into a small, functional apartment. This reduces the cost of heating, cooling and lighting. Second, an ongoing goal to reduce the consumption of products of animal agriculture. I went vegetarian in 2015 and vegan in 2018. My family is not quite there yet, but they have reduced meat intake and increased plant-based intake. Third, to replace our internal combustion vehicles. One was replaced this March (two days after we declared a climate emergency) with a fully electric vehicle. The other one will be replaced near the end of its life cycle. Fourth, to update the building electrical grid and move to solar power for our building – to be completed near the end of the current roof’s life cycle. Fifth, a commitment to take any new measures to reduce, reuse and recycle.”

“Changes I made in the past few years: I replaced a low-efficiency oil furnace with a high-efficiency gas furnace. I added insulation. I’m in the midst of replacing windows,” Williamsville District Coun. Jim Neill said.

“I went carless for four years, relying on public transit. I continue to use a monthly bus pass. I recently bought a Prius C, a compact hybrid vehicle. My next car will be electric. I live in the core of the city so I walk everywhere.

“It’s become a part of my daily calculation. Do I really need to drive? How can I minimize my travel? Out of town, can I use Via (Rail)? I love to travel, but I’ve greatly reduced my air and road travel.”

“My partner has never owned a car; I sold my last one in 2015,” Sydenham District Coun. Peter Stroud said. “We walk everywhere or take transit. We rarely buy consumer goods. We recycle and compost, producing only about one or two pounds of garbage per week for a family of five. I almost never buy canned or bottled drinks of any kind, and try to buy only local food. We drink mainly tap water. We spend a lot of time in the park.”

“Like many families,” King’s Town District Coun. Rob Hutchison said, “over time as a household we have been reusing, reducing and recycling, have reduced heat consumption by computer control, minimized air cooling, better insulation for energy conservation, replaced all light bulbs with compact fluorescents, driving less and walking/biking more, using less hot water including shorter showers, having an energy audit done to guide us to further measures, adopting a more-to-entirely vegetarian diet and increasing eating local.

“It is a combination of adapting to a more vegetarian diet and adapting to less vehicle use. Sometimes a pain, but doable.”

“We are avid recyclers and also try to purchase things with less packaging and recyclable materials,” Pittsburgh District Coun. Ryan Boehme said. “Also use glass milk bottles and milk from a local source and green bin our food scraps and work to teach the children about reducing, reusing and recycling and sustainable practices.

“Where possible, we buy local and, if the option exists, purchase sustainable foods. Kids also have stainless steel straws that they can reuse so we don’t have plastic single-use ones. Also recently purchased two trees to plant in our backyard and explained to our children the importance of trees and plants for making our air breathable. If we are going out locally for an event, we try to use transit to get there or walk when possible.”

elferguson@postmedia.com