Vancouver, British Columbia

02-26-2021

Vancouver, British Columbia Today’s Video of the Day from the European Space Agency features Vancouver, a busy seaport on the west coast of British Columbia.

Vancouver is one of Canada’s most densely populated and ethnically diverse cities, and is also known for being eco-friendly. 

Officials have developed a plan to make Vancouver “the greenest city in the world.” The project involves improving air quality, constructing greener buildings, reducing CO2 emissions, and reducing traffic by promoting cycling, walking, and public transportation use.

The city takes its name from George Vancouver, who explored the inner harbour of Burrard Inlet in 1792 and gave various places British names. The family name “Vancouver” itself originates from the Dutch “van Coevorden”, denoting somebody from the city of Coevorden, Netherlands. The explorer’s ancestors came to England “from Coevorden”, which is the origin of the name that eventually became “Vancouver”.

The indigenous Squamish people who reside in a region that encompasses southwestern British Columbia including this city gave the name K’emk’emeláy̓ which means “place of many maple trees”; this was originally the name of a village inhabited by said people where a sawmill was established by one Captain Edward Stamp as part of the foundations to the British settlement later becoming part of Vancouver

Vancouver is already one of the most sustainable cities on the planet, with 95 percent of its electricity coming from renewable energy sources. 

Video Credit: ESA 

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

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