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By Daniela Ginta

THE WAY I SEE IT

GINTA: Yes, there should be a price on water, soil and air pollution

Mar 29, 2021 | 11:10 AM

The news that the Provincial Court of B.C. handed Teck Coal Limited a $60 million fine , the largest penalty yet for Fisheries Act offenses, sounded like great news and appropriately so. The coal company has been polluting the waterways of Elk Valley, home of the Ktunaxa Nation, for a long time and the dire effects are multifold.

However, the fine is for just one year of releasing selenium and calcite from two of its mines. For what looks like a bargain when seen from the outside, the company apologized and pleaded guilty for the 2012 double trespassing, and the Crown prosecutors agreed to not pursue any other charges for the same offenses between 2013 and 2019.

Well, riddle me that! Same company, same bad deeds, same awful consequences for waterways, wildlife and the people living there, but somehow a bargain was struck and there are no extra fines, though the company’s revenue could easily support a few more, if their $4.5 billion in 2012 is any indication.

This is by no means the only mine that affects the environment and nearby communities. We all remember the Mount Polley mine disaster and then there are so many others we know little about because information of this kind has been scarce.

Not anymore though. In 2019, BC Mining Law Reform, together with SkeenaWild Conservation Network put together a map of 173 metal and coal sites. According to the report, 116 sites have already contaminated their immediate environment or are at risk to do so. To be sure, the network emphasized that ‘The network is not against mining, but it is against mining at any cost, or price.’ It’s about needs versus greed.

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Then there was the news on carbon tax, which the Supreme Court of Canada deemed constitutional, and necessary if we want to see the greenhouse emissions go down. Many celebrated the news, while others decried that it’s a money grab that will do nothing but ultimately damage our economy.

Perhaps not a bad thing to remind people of, given that the Conservative party is still finding it hard to admit that climate change is real. In fact, they down right deny it, which would be funny if it wasn’t so troublesome.

Anyone who has a pulse can see that the natural world is changing in front of our eyes – the effects of ‘perpetual growth’ economy, which, mind you, boosts the wealth of a few while bringing disaster to so many others, as well as to our environment.

Meanwhile, as if to remind us in a gargantuan way, literally, that our present way of life, globally speaking, is not going the right way, is the megaship that is blocking the Suez canal, halting international trade and causing millions in losses. (As of Monday, the ship has been freed.)

The size of this behemoth (more than four football fields and 200,000 tonnes!) is without a doubt shocking. What’s even more shocking than its size or the present situation is the fact that such a huge ship can be actually filled to capacity and also, that it is not the only megaship in the world.

The size of these already gigantic vessels has been increasing in the last few years in what can only be described as greed and excess beyond imagination. That’s where the shock should be – the impossibility of a lifestyle that eats away at the very planet it grows out of.

However, that’s not what is deemed shocking. It is the disruption to the global trade that brings more distress because there’s a cost associated to it. Natural disasters have one too, but the reinforcement is week unfortunately.

Once again, the losses of millions will likely barely affect the big companies running the global trade, but it will definitely affect regular people in many countries, some of which are struggling already due to the pandemic.

Consumerism has been discussed to death by many who argue against it for good reasons: bigger and more means that our air, soil and water become polluted, and the effects are long-term.

The resilience of nature cannot be a match, at least not in the near future, for the greed that makes humans dig more and deeper, extract resources to manufacture more stuff, and in all of that there is a high price that nature pays and severe violations of human rights too.

Putting a price on pollution, and a high one at that, and bringing consumerism down a few notches is highly overdue.

It’s in our interest and it benefits not just our health, but the health and well-being of our children and their children. It’s a message that has to reach far and wide, and once again we are to realize that addressing needs sustains life, while allowing greed and consumerism to rule destroys so much of it.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.