VICTORIA -- Federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion said Victoria can be an example of responsible water and waste management when the 2010 Olympics put B.C. in the international spotlight.
Victoria B.C., the jewel of the Canadian West Coast (though its been getting a bit seedy in the past couple of years), treats the Strait of Juan de Fuca as its own municipal toilet, pumping raw sewage into the ocean. They've been doing it for decades, and every few years the fact makes news and people are briefly appalled. Between times, residents have consistently rejected any taxation measures to pay for a treatment plant.
I remember an old college buddy who lived right on the shores of Oak Bay coming down with jaundice; the doctors told him it was almost certainly due to his exposure to human feces blown inland from the area around the sewage pipe.
So, in this case, when the yankees across the strait in places like Port Townsend, Sequim, and Port Angeles accuse Canadians of being smug with respect to environmental issues, they have a point.
7 comments:
They have much more than a single point against Canadian practises.
We're an extremely wasteful population w.r.t. our resources, and we seem complacent about it.
Somehow we 'feel' superior to Americans because we signed Kyoto, even though the US reduced emissions more than we did.
Winnipeg routinely dumps raw sewage into the Red. Lake Winnipeg is quickly dying, much like Lake Eerie in the '70s and progress is very slow.
Pollution, real pollution that has been proven to kill people and is still doing so, is going unchecked because the focus is now on CO2.
We waste water like there's no tomorrow. And now we're finding many communities are under a boil water advisory.
We're not the clean pristine wilderness we imagine. And I'd say most city dwellers wouldn't even know how to find it if they ever cared to actually go out and experience it.
"Pollution, real pollution that has been proven to kill people and is still doing so, is going unchecked because the focus is now on CO2."
I figger there's some overlap. Here in Nanticoke, we're spewin' a toxic mix of conventional pollutants and GHG's. Cleanin' up one'll clean up the other.
The disinformation campaign that was successfully waged by Bush with his editing of any scientific references to AGW, has meant that addressing the real problem of climate change was takin' a backseat and now it's playin' catch-up.
The focus on climate change has increased public awareness and concern for environmental issues, in general. That increased scrutiny and public concern carries over from GHG's to particulates and other pollutants.
Environmental advocacy groups and the Green Party have been harpin' on pollution fer decades. They ain't quittin' now that they got so many new converts.
The Annony commenter's right on the money vis-a-vis water, sewage and personal wastefulness.
BTW, I live practically right on Lake Erie. It was dying but then it got a reprieve on accounta tough measures. We got troublems still but mostly from zebra mussels that come in as stowaways on tankers from China or somewhere. The International Joint Commission huffed an' puffed an' got some stuff done and now Lake Erie's mostly clean enough to swim in except where there's too many houses an' not enough sewage treatment. They're lookin'at usin' a bigass treatment plant in Nanticoke fer supplyin' drinkin' water to towns all over the area. That's Lake Erie water.
JimBobby
Jombobby,
Yes anon is right about other pollutants and I acknowedge his point that in some cases CO2 issues are crowding other matters out of the picture.
Victoria has always particularly bothered me because, gawdamit, its SUPPOSED to be a green/hippy paradise. Yet the city (and taxpayers) have chosen to hush hush their sewage issues for years.
Yer right as rain. Most Canajun cities the size o' Victoria don't have the option of dumpin' raw sewage into the nearest body of water. Other cities have dealt with their sewage. Vicoria shouldn't be an exception -- 'specially when the whole dang world's gonna be watchin' the circus in 2010.
JB
Science
vs Anecdote
I remember an old college buddy who lived right on the shores of Oak Bay coming down with jaundice; the doctors told him it was almost certainly due to his exposure to human feces blown inland from the area around the sewage pipe.
Hey, Rat...you made a valid point.
New meds?
Rat,
I am tempted to to bow before your greater knowledge of living in filth. I will try and check the jaundice/victoria connection.
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