Green Within V.

Vancouver, British Columbia is the next stop on our tour of the Pacific Northwest. This leg is a homecoming of sorts for my mother: she and my dad lived here for a short time before I was born. Beni and I have also spent time in Vancouver, albeit for a much shorter time, having vacationed here the year before Olivia was born.

Vancouver is an absolutely stunning place—the downtown is framed by waterways, a forested park, and mountains—and its progressive ethos makes me love it all the more. Known for its environmental consciousness, Vancouver is the only major Canadian city in which the rate of car ownership and the average distance driven by daily commuters have fallen since the early 1990s.

Here are some of the other greening efforts we noticed during our treks around the city today:

The tree atop Eugenia Place high rise

Solar-powered lights along Sunset Beach Park

One of the many Prius cabs