Blog Action Day Update

As I posted on September 1st, this upcoming Monday is Blog Action Day.

There are currently over 8800 blogs signed up to post on that day about the environment. I still haven't finalized what I will be posting about but I found it interesting that the Toronto Star posted an article about how terrible the Sarnia area is for smokestack emissions. In fact, Sarnia is so bad that it produced more than 16.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2005 alone. This represents more than one fifth of Ontario’s total industrial greenhouse gas emissions and more than the Province of British Columbia for the same period.

If that isn't enough, the study also claims a cluster of petrochemical plants in the Sarnia area released more dangerous chemicals in 2005 than all the industries in Manitoba, New Brunswick or Saskatchewan. The findings include a high rate of asbestos-related diseases among Sarnia workers and a leukemia rate among young women that is double the provincial rate.

I also find it a little co-incidental that this study was released less than 1 week before a provincial election and helps highlight one (of many) hot button issues that the current government has to deal with. They had promised that all coal burning plants in Ontario would be closed by 2007 - a campaign promise from the 2003 election. One fifth of Ontario's electricity supply is generated by burning coal.

So it seems that I am spoiled for choice when blogging on the environment in respect to the Sarnia-Lambton area and Ontario at large.

Make sure to check back next week and see what I finally decide for a topic.