Saturday, July 28, 2007

Social Impacts Continued...

Like many other issues in urban societies, GVRD's landfill issue creates the NIMBY-Not In My Backyard- syndrome within the province. Many proposed sites are the "backyard" of many of our people. Living close to a landfill site can be very dangerous as the carbon produced from composing or burning of organic compounds can be very damaging to our respiratory system. It also assists the production of acid rain which is harmful to our farms, our buildings and in general our environment. Another factor is the production of leachate that can enter the ground water system and eventually our rivers, it can become our drinking water, or the water we swim in. These points are all very logical reasons for why one may not want a landfill close by.
In addition to all the health issues related to having a dump site in your residence area, the presence of it also lowers the value of your property. Just like how a lot of people do not want to live by a landfill site, a lot of people do not want to buy a house close to a landfill. So, in many ways one may be pressured to live where they are because they do not have the money to leave. They may sell their house at a price lower than property level, so they can get away. This not only will not be beneficial but will be detrimental.
One other social problem is the job market for the waste industry. Many people such as the employees of the Cache Creek landfill may be losing their jobs if, the landfill chosen will be either very far away that they can not commute, or could be owned by a private company that would get their own people in work.
Another issue worth mentioning is that if the chosen landfill is a privately owned site and is not owned by GVRD it will have higher expenses for everyone. People may end up paying more than they do now for their annual waste collection and disposal. It is inevitable that there are going to be a group of people who will be unhappy with this additional cost.
All the problems mentioned may cause a change in people's garbage production conscience. However, people will not be changing for the next two years while Cache Creek is filling up. If any change in people, it will be showing in the next decade.
In the mean time, it is the municipal governments, GVRD, and the provincial government to make the right choice so it will be beneficial to everyone.

The next question will be who is really deciding? Is there a cooperation level between the government levels?

1 comment:

India said...

hi Leyli

Very interesting article.

I agree with you bout wise - shopping. This is the key. The power lies with the consumer to choose. The same power which is completely exploited by corporates, producers & advertisers.
Each individual - may exercise their power & create a sustainable world.

This has been my topic of choice for a recent film that I've made for Buy Nothing Day.

Luv n Light

Varunn
Bombay