Environment
The Fight for a Sustainable Bowen Island
By James Glave published Nov 1, 2008
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It began with a piece of sidewalk chalk. In mid July, an anonymous citizen picked up a fat stick of gypsum and scrawled a public appeal along the concrete curb next to the cedars, poplars, and hemlocks that stand in front of the elementary school on Bowen Island. "Please, please, save these trees," it read.
The 13 second-growth trees were indeed on death row; in fact, the people had already officially bid them farewell. A delegation of Squamish First Nation members in ceremonial dress had stopped by a couple of weeks earlier to bless the trees and thank them for the decades they'd spent purifying the air and shading the children who had for years played beneath their boughs. That was supposed to be the end of it. Community closure? Check.
But something about the plaintive bit of graffiti stuck. Citizens who'd missed the newspaper articles about the project—and all the other public notifications that had been circulated—suddenly started paying attention. More signs appeared, fashioned from cardboard and scraps of plywood. The new notices had an angry, defiant tone. One alleged a local government cover-up: "Municipal lies, integrity dies."
Driven by passion and armed by Google, an outraged electorate began meeting online to compare notes about the new facility to be built where the trees stood. They concluded that while in operation, it could potentially release carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide-all within plain sight of the school. Whoa, Nellie. All of a sudden this wasn't just about trees coming down. It was about cancer.
Petitions were drawn up. People threatened to lie down in front of the machines. A municipal councillor who had voted to approve the project now circulated a protest poem condemning it. One fellow cut a YouTube video, in which a four-year-old child slowly gripped a chain-link fence to the soundtrack of a Bob Marley protest song.
It all came to a head at a standing-room-only public hearing, where worried and offended parents stood up to address the municipal council upon whose vote the project would live or die. "This is absolutely insane," stated one. "I am not prepared to bargain with my child's life."
Meanwhile, out on the main road, a small plywood protest sign-tacked to a power pole-succinctly captured the community's collective end-of-days anxiety. It read, simply, "Hope."
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Thanks, Scout V. for your comments. The conundrum continues on author James Glave's site, where he's posted "Why I Say Yes to Turf." Convinced? Or fearful of Astro-washing? Comment below.
The study that David Hocking used and is referred to can be found in pdf form here.
This study was commissioned by Upper Canada College and determined that to off-set the Greenhouse Gas Emissions by artificial turf for a playing field would involve planting over 1,800 trees.
Nowhere in Mr. Hocking's comparative analysis that gives the green light to an artificial playing field for Bowen Island is tree planting suggested or calculated for, nor the recyling of the earth dug up to create such a field.
What was also left out of Bowen Island Municipal Council's decision to give the go-ahead for a synthetic turf field was lobbying done by the Bowen Island Football (soccer) Club. BIFC had stressed the desire to stay on island more instead of having to go into town for games and practices. However, BIFC subsequently joined the North Shore Youth Soccer Association, which means more games in town. BIFC seems to be at odds with themselves. They list their desire for artifical turf practise field with lights then the accomplishment of such (pages 7 and 9) on a downloadable pdf.
Bowen Island Municipal Council also accepted an online petition with over 200 names, however there are many 'anonymous' signers or ones from out of country.
Most pro-grass advocates were taken back by council's decision to go ahead with the project and council also approved night lighting which put the project over budget. Citizens are crying foul play.
Mayor Bob Turner and Councillor Peter Frinton admit the process has been flawed.
