Vancouver has long been a beacon to the international environmental movement.

Residents of B.C.'s largest city created Greenpeace, the David Suzuki Foundation, and the concept of the ecological footprint.

More than 40 years ago, they galvanized to stop a proposed freeway from destroying Chinatown and Gastown. Thanks to NDP MLAs Harold Steves and Vancouver's Bob Williams, farmland was protected in an Agricultural Land Reserve, which exists to this day. More than two decades ago, logging was halted in the region's watersheds.

Today, Vancouver is again setting the standard for the world with the second annual Great Climate Race. More than 1,000 runners and walkers are expected to converge on Stanley Park at 9:30 a.m. for the world's first city-backed sporting event to raise funds for renewable-energy projects in the community.

Cofounded by Vancouver environmentalists Ben West and Mari McMillan, it combines fun and physical fitness with a serious objective: saving the planet.

“A race is a perfect fit for a climate change event because climate change is a race against time," West said in a statement this morning. "We need to speed up the transition to renewable energy. We are harnessing the passion, positivity and determination of runners and walkers to make change for the better.”

It couldn't be more timely.

According to NASA, the average global temperature has risen 0.8 ° C since 1880. Minimum Arctic Sea ice levels have fallen 13.3 percent per decade. Land ice is shrinking by 281 gigatonnes per year. And sea levels are rising at 3.4 millimetres annually.

NASA's website recently reported that the Smith Glacier in Antarctica lost between 300 and 490 metres in thickness between 2002 and 2009.

"Those years encompass a period when rapid increases in mass loss were observed around the Amundsen Sea region," NASA stated. "The regional scale of the loss made scientists strongly suspect that an increase in the influx of ocean heat beneath the ice shelves must have taken place."

In the face of this, ardent climate-change denier Donald Trump is gaining ground in the U.S. presidential election.

New British prime minister Teresa May has abolished the U.K.'s department of energy and climate change.

And in Canada, national media outlets have been reporting that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is eager to approve one or more oil pipelines.

The Great Climate Race in Stanley Park is one way that Vancouverites can try to make a difference in the face of powerful forces that want to maintain the status quo, which threatens the future of humanity on Earth.

A hearty congratulations go to West and McMillan for coming up with the idea. Let's hope it soon spreads to other cities, starting with London, Ottawa, and Washington, D.C.