As the inevitable shadow of high-priced and carbon-emitting fossil fuels looms, Nova Scotia's municipality of Clare is sowing its own seeds of self-sufficiency, based on its kinship with a tiny European local energy leader Güssing, Austria.

Vancouver, B.C.'s EcoDensity policies have been the subject of much debate, but they've become a fixture of the city's political and planning landscape, even after the term of the mayor who promoted them.

Whether it's the purchasing policies of chain stores, a lack of local resources like egg graders, or the rules set up by marketing boards and other regulatory agencies, farmers around Sudbury, Ontario have found that the food distribution system is not set up for small farms and local production.

More market watchers are starting to wonder if peak oil is nearby or already here, and consider the global economic ramifications. In Toronto, the citizen group Post Carbon Toronto meets to consider local consequences and possible preparation.

University of Alberta's Robert Cheng is working on technologies that will allow structures to communicate otherwise invisible information about the stresses they are subjected to, allowing engineers greater ability to build and repair appropriately. "My goals include extending the useful life of structures, greatly reducing maintenance costs, and cutting the need to regularly replace or refurbish infrastructure projects," Dr. Cheng says. "The simple fact is that going forward, we will not have the resources to continue doing things the way we have for the past 50 years."

Collaboration with the neighbors of a new Toronto development has produced an unusual new plan for the main road. It puts the needs of transit riders, pedestrians and cyclists ahead of motorists by sacrificing some automotive lanes for separated streetcar and bike lanes, and is being hailed as a success in neighborhood-building.

The daily newspaper of Hamilton, Ontario reports on Post Carbon Cities author Daniel Lerch's recent presentation there. "[Lerch] is encouraged by signs that Hamilton is looking seriously at an economic blueprint less dependent on oil. In his view, Hamilton has set an example among municipalities in tackling energy and air-quality concerns since the oil crises of the 1970s."

This will be the second annual Building SustainAble Communities conference for elected officials and staff from local governments throughout BC.

They can last as long or longer than some conventional materials and they're good for the environment -- the living roof is setting down roots in Canada. "It's been in Europe for so many years and Canada is finally getting on the bandwagon," says Laura Barker of Elevated Landscape Technologies. "The city of Toronto did an initiative to get people to do green roofs, and I think that has woken up the rest of the country."

Canada's oil capital, Calgary, has the largest per-capita ecological footprint of any municipality nationwide. It's also proving to be a leader in radically cutting greenhouse gas emissions. "All we had to do was get on the road towards energy efficiency and greenhouse-gas reductions, and there was so much we could do," Alderman Bob Hawkesworth says. "We far exceeded what our initial ideas of success would be."