Earth Hour is a symbolic gesture. We are all smart enough to know that one hour of reduced energy usage will have no effect on improving the environment.
But there is one decision before Council that does have long term effects.
Each winter, tons of snow from around Newmarket are collected and stored at the unused parking lot at the Ray Twinney Complex. When the snow melts, the sands, silts, and salts are captured. The process is our best option from an environmental viewpoint.
However, there are two or three NIMBY's who live near the Ray Twinney Complex who have convinced Council to end this environmentally safe process.
Instead, Council wants to move the process to 429-445 Harry Walker Parkway, which is a 3.47 hectare property at the headwaters of the environmentally sensitive Bogart Creek. The cost of moving the snow storage is currently estimated at $70,000.
According to Ward 2 Councillor Dave Kerwin, there are no guarantees that the sands, silts and salts from the melting snow won't end up poisoning the surrounding land. If the melting snow runs off into the Bogart Creek, the damage to the environment will spread down stream.
Closing the Ray Twinney snow storage was the brain child of Ward 7 Councillor Christina Bisanz.
This week on Twitter, she is encouraging her supporters to join the "Earth Hour Challenge"
Hey Ward 7--let's win this one! http://fb.me/2bQvJFsQG
"Let's win this one?"
How can it be a win for the environment when she is advocating polluting Bogart Creek rather than risk disappointing two or three of her supporters? Are those few votes so important that it's worth the risk of polluting our ecological heritage?
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