pollution

It's often hard to see the effects ofenvironmental damage from within our built environments. Nature is typically kept at arms length, and Calgary is no exception. However, some effects can be seen from within the city. The layer of smog that often hovers over the city is very real, and indicates that our air quality is less than stellar. Walking along heavily used streets such as 9th Avenue downtown yields a similar observation in air quality; it’s hard to take a breath without inhaling exhaust, especially during rush hour.

I also believe that building smaller more efficient cars that run on bio-fuel or electricity is not the answer to peak oil concerns. Consider that demand for cars is continusously increasing around the world. I think that this demand will continue to grow (after our current econcomic down turn subsides) as China and India complete their industrialization, and as the world population continues to boom. Millions more cars adding their perhaps reduced pollution to the environment does not solve anything. Generating elecricity for electric cars, unless that energy comes from clean sources, is a polluting process, just not done by the car.

enviromental damage

I’m afraid that even worse environmental damage is occurring in areas outside of our everyday travels. Climate change is melting Arctic and Antarctic ice fields and glaciers world wide at an alarming rate. Oil sands extraction efforts in northern Alberta are resulting in contaminated bitumen lakes that kill any birds that land on them. These issues only begin to scratch the surface.

garbage / waste

Production, consumption and waste levels in Calgary are in my opinion very high, and I’m sure very much in line with other North American cities. I’m surprised that in 2009 we still deal with the majority of our waste by trucking it away and burying it in the ground.

Curitiba Brazil has implemented a comprehensive recycling program by encouraging the collection of all forms of materials in exchange for transit tickets. From what I understand this program has been widely successful in reducing waste going into landfills. In Alberta we have put an economic incentive on cans, bottles, and other drink containers. What if we were to extend this deposit system to all goods? I think our society would be less likely to toss away money when finished with these objects.