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Going Green in Eastern Ontario |
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Written by Nathaniel Lewis
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Friday, 20 March 2009 00:00 |
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It seems that "going green" is frequently posited as the newest answer to the economic woes of industrial and formerly industrial regions. Recent articles in both the Kingston Whig Standard ("Let's Make Kingston the Eco-friendlier City," Mar. 5) and the Belleville Intelligencer ("Province Thinking Green," Mar. 7) suggest that Eastern Ontario has the right ingredients to make the transition to cleaner, more efficient energy sources and production strategies. These advantages include an existing manufacturing base, the presence of several educational institutions (e.g., Queen's, St. Lawrence, Loyalist, Algonquin, Fleming, and Trent) advancing renewable energy technology, and both provincial and local policies which promote sustainability such as the Ontario Green Act and Kingston's LEED standards for municipal buildings. The major challenges, these articles indicate, are ensuring that senior policymakers support this trend (e.g., not "capping" the proportions of renewable energy sources used), "scaling down" policy and education efforts to target homeowners and businesses, and keeping the revenue gained from specific projects (e.g., wind farms) within the province. If these challenges are addressed, Eastern Ontario, these articles argue, is positioned to become Canada's leader in sustainability and green technologies. Is this a truly feasible proposition or mostly "buzz" at this point? If this trend truly does progress at the predicted speed, are there any dangers to consider, such as the failure to consult with local communities on green energy projects?
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