A group of students from Simon Fraser University are canvassing Port Moody residents in a project to gauge public understanding of problems associated with water usage in the era of climate change.
“Most people have rated climate change as a big concern,” said Josh Benes, a 21-year-old student from Port Moody, pointing at preliminary results. “But, so far, there’s a big disconnect there on how climate change will affect their lives… It’s kind of in the back of people’s minds.”
The group — which, in addition to Benes, includes 22-year-olds Charm Hanna and Alexis Holmes — spent weeks researching how climate change could affect the community, and cites hotter summer temperatures and a dwindling winter snowpack as major threats to water reserves.
The project sprouted from a special program at SFU that brings together students from different fields to study and target one issue important to public policy eight hours a day over three months.
The engagement survey asks basic questions about age, neighbourhood, income and whether the respondent is a homeowner or involved in a community group. But it also forces residents to look at how they use and conserve water, their views on how water usage affects the environment, and their concerns around the local impact of floods and drought.
The group has distributed the survey to community groups such as the Port Moody Ecological Society and Noons Creek Hatchery, posted it to a Port Moody Facebook discussion page and continue to approach people in person at several key spots across the city, including the Moody Centre SkyTrain station.
The group hopes to gather dozens, if not hundreds of responses. In the process, they hope to inspire people to deploy rain barrels or transform their yards with hardier, less water-needy plants like moss and clover. But the real goal is to present their results to PoMo staff Nov. 21 to help the city guide its own engagement strategy.
“'Here’s the gaps in knowledge, here’s where it would be effective to address flooding and drought,'” Benes said. “The bigger the base of data, the more specific we can get.”
Until then, the group will continue to canvas the residents of Port Moody with their tablets and three-minute surveys. Look out for them on Halloween around Suter Brook Village and Rocky Point Park.
“We’ll be in some costumes with candy to incentivize people,” said Holmes.
