You can always count on Buddy Boyd of Gibsons Recycling Depot for a great quote or two. And he certainly doesn’t disappoint when it comes to his thoughts on the zero waste conference held this past weekend in Nanaimo.
Boyd comes out swinging against the duplicity of Vancouver and what he terms the absence of the “green-label” politicians from the Sunshine Coast.
Vancouver, he said, likes to promote itself as a zero-waste city by pawning its garbage off to some other unlucky burg to burn. The biggest city in B.C. is selling “snake oil” in its use of the zero-waste brand, Boyd said.
So why should we care if the city that many say has a mayor with definite wool sock and Birkenstock leanings is wanting to peddle his banana peels somewhere else? Well, as Boyd so succinctly puts it, if Port Mellon is chosen as burn central that could make Gibsons “ground zero” in the incineration wars. So why wasn’t the whole Gibsons council and Area E and F directors at this all-important conference that attracted delegates from as far away as Italy? Apparently the City of Powell River thought it sufficiently important to send a full delegation while Gibsons was represented by one councillor, Charlene San Jenko, and the Town’s CAO Mani Machado. As far as we know, Powell River’s air isn’t at risk to become Vancouver’s surrogate smoke stack, so their level of participation says a lot about their interest in the environment.
The regional district chair Garry Nohr and two staffers also attended this important summit. But if there’s a candidate chomping at the bit to take on Lee Turnbull’s position as director of Area F, he or she didn’t consider the conference serious enough to make their presence known. And while we haven’t heard from Area E director Lorne Lewis on his election intentions, we’re pretty sure he didn’t make the trek to Nanaimo.
The Nanaimo conference attracted almost 200 delegates from around the world yet only five from its backdoor. We all get that people are entitled to a life and that personal plans often get in the way of political duty. But wouldn’t it be ironic if our lovely harbour remained the same and no one could see it past a smoky haze. It will be laughable if our lungs still work.
