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Earth to Thompson: Hello, it was Earth Day April 22

When it comes to “getting it” when it comes to environmentalism the City of Thompson – and indeed most of us Thompsonites – still have a ways to go. We cast a broad net here because this isn’t simply about our eight-member city council or some overworked municipal staff.

To be fair, we’re making strides, slowly but surely. While the travails of the Thompson Recycling Centre have got plenty of ink in this space and throughout the news pages of the Thompson Citizen over the last couple of years, progress is being made, slowly but surely.

Deputy mayor Harold Smith, who sits on the centre’s board of directors and has been involved on and off since its inception in July 1997, is one of those who more or less gets it when it comes to what direction the city has to go in terms of being more environmentally conscious and sustainable.

Hats off, too, to Wayne Koversky, the director of public works, who has hung tough on keeping the city moving on automated waste and now recycling pickup. They’re big ticket changes but there will be green dividends down the road.

In a similar vein, council broadly should get credit for pushing ahead with the Thompson water utility, likely to come on stream, Jan. 1. This is not going to be popular with voters in an election year, but we’re one of the biggest drinking water-wasting municipalities in all of Canada, if not the biggest. And the province has made it clear they’re not going to open their wallet for our much needed new sewage treatment plant – we’re talking $20 million or so at least – until we get our water utility up and running.

User-pay drinking water is something whose time has come, as is a ban on “single-use” plastic grocery and shopping bags, also likely to come into effect in the next few months.

That doesn’t mean it will be convenient or completely welcome and we can’t be at least a tad begrudging in accepting the inevitable need for both.

There probably aren’t too many of us anxiously waiting to have a water meter installed in our homes so we can pony up maybe $800 or so a year out of our pockets for drinking water, or to schlep around the cloth bag alternative to plastic bags. We all know plastic grocery bags for many of us are hardly single-use: Let’s at least be honest about it; they’re often incredibly handy multiple-use bags that will be missed.

At the same time, deep down, most of us know and accept both steps by the city are the right things to do, even if we can’t get too excited or overjoyed about them. Some days environmentalism is about as much fun as having a root canal.

Perhaps that’s why the City of Thompson ignored Earth Day – again – this year on April 22.

Thompson instead took the quick and easy route, participating this year in the largely symbolic, largely feel-good March 27 “Earth Hour” turnout-the-lights event from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. – on a Saturday night. No word if Vale Inco was asked to shut down operations for the hour.

Even though it was largely effortless, an Ipsos Reid poll found fewer than half of Canadians participated in Earth Hour this year, either by turning out their lights (39 per cent) or by contributing in another way (eight per cent). In comparison, 60 per cent of Canadians participated in 2009. In Manitoba, 33 per cent participated in Earth Hour this year, compared with 57 per cent last year, the pollster said.
No harm marking Earth Hour for the public relations value, but embracing an entire Earth Day might have taken – dare we say it – more sustained effort.

Morden Stanley Thompson and Winkler's Community Led Emissions Reduction (CLER) program managed to bring in Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow's 2009 documentary, Dirt! The Movie, to École Morden Middle School for Earth Day, along with information booths on composting, soil management, organic lawn care, and other environmental topics.

The history of Earth Day dates back to April 22, 1970 and Wisconsin Democratic Senator Gaylord Perry, who planned it as an environmental” teach-in.”

“It would have been great to do something here, as I am painfully aware that Earth Day would be an excellent rally call for this program,” said Andrea Hatley, Thompson’s climate change Community Led Emissions Reduction (CLER) pilot program co-ordinator, but “Morden is three months ahead of us in terms of the progress with their action plan … Promoting awareness of environmental days … such as Earth Day … can be valuable assets to raise collective consciousness.”

If you stumble by happenstance somehow upon the Community Led Emission Reduction (CLER) web page for Thompson at: http://www.thompson.ca/dbs/publicworks/dyncat.cfm?catid=4049 on the thompson.ca website, there is a one paragraph reference halfway down the page asking, “What are you doing on Earth Day to Celebrate our home? E-mail your events, celebration ideas, stories or thoughts and if you'd like they'll be posted here to share with our fellows earthlings.” None were posted for Earth Day. “Unfortunately, the page is so tucked away, I believe few have found it,” Hatley said, noting also there was some sentiment that Thompson shouldn’t engage in “half-baked” efforts but rather ensure there are activities organized to support them.  

“Next year,” says Hatley optimistically.

Let’s hope so. Hatley is one person in one pilot project position. We find no fault with her efforts here. Indeed, she’s been a vocal and reasonably effective environmental advocate and consciousness raiser over the last few months. It will take a whole community, including, but not limited to, city councillors and the mayor, to proclaim – and embrace – Earth Day. Next year.

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