|
|
|
WHAT'S NEW
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
A shy homemaker battles pollution
|
|
|
How a woman found her voice -- and raised it successfully -- against the contamination of a local wetland
|
|
|
By Belinda Manning, as told to Eleanor Beaton
|
|
|
|
|
Becoming a community advocate
I collected every tidbit of information I could find. I filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) request with the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour, and a few weeks later, I was staring at a stack of environmental inspection reports indicating that the composting company was responsible for serious surface and groundwater contamination at the industrial park. And now they were dumping the same material in the bog.
With so many of our wells close to the bog, I worried that our drinking water could easily be contaminated, too. I called all the residents in our community and suggested that they start buying their drinking water. Then I started calling all the appropriate authorities. But to my utter dismay, I kept getting bounced from one department to another. Even though I could prove that the composting facility would put my community at risk, I still couldn't get anyone to listen. Was it because I was a stay-at-home mom who didn't have a list of initials after my name?
My bravest move
The following day I did something I never thought I'd have the guts to do. I picked up the phone and called the Minister of Environment and Labour. My heart was pounding so loud I was worried that the Minister might hear it. His wife answered the phone, and I asked for her husband.
"This is a private home," she told me.
"This is a private home, too," I remember telling her. "But I've got a 77-acre public problem in my backyard."
When I hung up the phone, I was shaking. I didn't get the chance to speak to the minister and it felt like I had just hit another brick wall. But this time, I was more than just frustrated -- I was angrier than I have ever been in my entire life. My family was at risk, and no one seemed to be willing to help us.
Yet, my anger turned into a valuable source of fuel. I started a community letter-writing campaign, and eventually the province revoked the company's composting permit. But it wasn't over. The company was still mining peat moss out of the bog, leaving gaping trenches. I battled on, though there were days when I wanted to give up. But then I'd get a phone call from one of my neighbours and I'd remember that there were people who were counting on me.
The campaign gains attention
One day, my research unearthed a name: Dr. Martin Willison, a leading environmental scientist in Nova Scotia. I invited him to the bog. As we walked, I kept mispronouncing the names of the plants, but he treated me with so much respect that I didn't feel too badly.
Willison discovered the bog contained tree stumps dating back possibly thousands of years. The stumps are like ancient time capsules, containing valuable information that could help scientists understand climate change and weather patterns.
Willison wrote to the Minister of Environment and Labour and within weeks, the mining stopped. While I was overjoyed, I felt a little hurt that it took only one letter from a well-known scientist to achieve what had eluded me personally for four years.
Moving forward
Yet I can't complain. I went on to win a Canadian Environment Award. After the birth of my daughter, it was one of my proudest moments. It feels as good to me as a PhD in environmental science. I've gone on to be a guest lecturer at universities, and I'm even involved in writing new environmental guidelines.
Today I travel across the province, working as an advocate for other communities who are dealing with similar environmental challenges. And I'm still fighting to get either the composting company or the provincial government to pay to clean up the bog and help return it to its natural state.
An old man I know and respect told me that there will come a time in my life when I realize that I just have to stop digging. A few years ago I might have believed him. But just between you and me -- now I'm not so sure.
Page 2 of 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 more articles |
|
|
|
|
|
|
