Melancthon Township is situated 100 kilometers northwest of Toronto and was home to a much publicized resource development issue. The Highland Companies, a company that is backed by an American hedge fund, (definition: This refers to a partnership of investors that often use high risk methods in hopes of earning large financial rewards.) proposed to establish Canada’s largest-ever mega quarry. (definition: This is an area where building stone, gravel or other materials have been mined from the ground.) They bought up hundreds of farms in the area, and told the former owners of these farms that the company was getting into the farming industry. However, their true plan was to build a mega-quarry to mine limestone. This quarry would be deeper than the height of Niagara Falls and one-third the size of downtown Toronto. The proposed mega-quarry would have been built on more than 2,000 acres of some of the best quality, productive farmland in Canada (class 1 agricultural land) and would use about 600 million litres of water each day for its production.

Many people opposed this proposed mega-quarry and more than 140,000 people signed a petition to stop its construction. The Ministry of Natural Resources also received over 2,000 formal objections opposing the quarry.   

Not only did people sign petitions against the mega-quarry and officially oppose it with the Ministry of Natural Resources, they also held an event which rallied close to 40,000 Ontarians. The end result? In November 2012, the Highland Company withdrew its application, thus leading to the end of the Mega-Quarry proposal and the resignation of the company’s president. The company explained that they weren’t moving ahead with the proposal due to the lack of support from the community and the government. This was seen as a huge environmental win for the people of Ontario and serves as a symbol of the power of people to inspire change within society when it comes to resource development planning.

NIMBY

Have you ever heard the term NIMBY? It stands for “Not In My Backyard,” and it is generally used to describe people who oppose a development of some kind in an area that is close to their home and businesses. Often times these people see the positive potential impacts of the development but don’t want it occurring close to them. For example, a majority of Canadians support the idea of increasing wind power in our country, however wind turbine development is often unpopular with some of the local people.

As we know, there are always (at least!) two sides to every issue and it’s often difficult to find a compromise that will make both sides happy. If we examine alternative energy developments we will find that people often do not want them close to their homes. Solar and wind power generation are among the most highly debated developments.  

Transporting a Growing Population

As previously discussed in the course, as our world’s population increases so does our demand on natural resources. We are looking for alternative options to power our lifestyles, to make our goods, and to transport people. When looking at transportation options, many people assume that hybrid or electric cars are the way of the future and have a far less negative impact on the environment; but is that really the case? Check out this video about electic cars and how they may not be as "green" as you think.

As we can see from the video, electric cars are not necessarily the solution to building a more sustainable transportation future. We must consider other options such as improving mass transit within our communities and encouraging biking or walking. But how do we encourage people to give up their cars, the convenience they offer and the way of life that they are used to?  

Hong Kong's MTR (Mass Transit Railway) is seen as a highly successful example of mass transit that is able to sustainably and efficiently transport large groups of people.  

Here are some highlights of the MTR:

• It is 218 kilometers long and carries on average five million passengers each day.
• It runs on-time, and is said to have a 99.9% punctuality rate.
• On average the cost of travel on the MTR is only $1 per trip.

In Canada, many of our large cities boast mass transit plans that are considered to be sustainable.

The city of Vancouver, which considers itself  the “Green Capital” of Canada, has shifted its investment spending into creating more walking, cycling and public transit routes instead of building more roads. Vancouver’s "green" transportation highlights include:

• City buses, rail system and aquatic bus
• Bike share programs
• Walking and cycling paths
• Car share programs.