Babel mothers pass it to their babies as bedtime stories. It includes the secrets that Babel hides from the prying eyes of other Ontario residents. It is the secret story of the greening of Babel.
It is a story that does not go with the macho image of the town. It conflicts with the image of the town as a string of bars along Dunlop Street. It confuses the traveller who thinks the city is just miles and miles of big box stores along the provincial highway. It conflicts with the stories of Babel being a city of hookers and hockey players.
And the secret is more than the fabulous waterfront around beautiful Kempenfelt Bay. Babel’s investment in clean water and parks and trails and fireworks and entertainments is part of the secret that is gradually leaking out to the rest of the province. And if City Council ever gets its act together on the Allandale station lands, it will be the anchor of Babel as a North American tourist destination.
Nobody looks across the street from the station at the Water Pollution Control Centre or notices that its function is as the city’s sewage works. Did you know that this city operation is one of the most modern in Ontario? Did you know it produces hundreds of thousands of dollars of electric energy and heat each year from human waste? Have you noticed that it delivers clean water back to the bay from our toilets? We just take some tasty fish from the bay and let our children swim in its waters.
The secret is also in the small things. It is like Babel using LED lighting in all its traffic lights. The LEDs save energy and last longer.
It is the same with capturing methane gas from the landfill site up on Ferndale North. Methane gas is the same formula as natural gas and is easily used. Mind you, there will be less over time as the city continues to be a leader in waste diversion. We put less into landfill every day.
Maybe the guys down at Misty’s have missed the point but this city is doing things. Maybe we need to pay more attention. It need not be secret!
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Copyright 2011 © Peter Lowry
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