Opinion Volume 76 Issue No. 8 ™Review Wednesday, February 21,1990 — A6 Greener attitudes: The challenges ahead A renewed interest in helping the environment faces obstacles far trickier than getting blue boxes to the curb on time. Change must seep into the institutions of society. That’s why programs like the recycling effort at North Saanich Middle School are so important. Students there are changing their habits and the way they think, by Participating in a school-wide recycling program and environment-related Classroom projects. They'll be responsible for populating a society that can’t consume in the manner it has become accustomed to. Young people across the country will become the decision-makers and workers in institutions that today still balk at their _ changing responsibilities. Institutions like MacMillan Bloedel. It’s Statement that 200 Port Alberni employees could be out of work was but one of many black clouds to come, as transition starts. MacBlo’s clean-costs-jobs statement demonstrates the kind of reaction the industrialized world will face in Many sectors for many years. The company was probably just attempting to divert pressure to the government. But for the people of Port Albemi, with real lives to live and mortgage payments to make, it must be hard to hear the hollow ring. Society faces a massive re-adjustment in the economy. If paper recycling is fully exploited, forestry giants will require far fewer trees. If disposable plastics are used less, secondary petroleum industries, which create the petrochemicals people love to use and discard, will build far fewer plants. This is obviously good for the environment. But it also means lost jobs. In theory, the jobs shift in an economy that uses them elsewhere. In reality, lives are changed dramatical- ly. People that have trouble shifting lose homes, savings and identities. These are times of great irony. People read of the health hazards caused by disposable diapers. (One baby alone will generate 1.4 tons of them in his first 30 months of life, and they account for three per cent of the waste in landfills.) And people watch TV-ad pediatricians Say disposables are the best way to keep their babies happy and comfortable. People worry about the greenhouse effect while car manufacturers gear up for a freer marketplace in the Eastem Bloc. Wasteful consumption is deeply ingrained in society’s institutions. All age groups must make changes. But it’s the young who will ultimately weave their new consciousness into society’s fabric. The editorials in this space, the left-hand side of Page A6, are those of the newspaper. They are written by the editor or under the editor’s direction, and the opinions expressed are independently developed by the editor and The Review’s editorial department. TheReview Serving The Saanich Peninsula Since 1912 9781 2nd Street Sidney, B.C V8L 4P8 or PO, Box 2070 Sidney, B.C V8L 3S5 Second Class Mail Registration #0128 656-1151 Publisher: Vic Swan Editor: George Lee AN ISLAND PUBLISHERS NEWSPAPER _ VERIFIED CIRCULATION CONTROLLED SITE OF THE NEW MouNT NEWTON MIDDLE ——} Parking ideas Editor: Re: Sidney parking. Sidney council seems to be al a loss over the provision of adequate parking for tourists and other shoppers. At issue are 94 spots in five public lots, which were uscd largely hy business people. There are not so many busi- nesses in town that this could not be regulated somewhat, perhaps by the allotment of spaces, according to their needs. Having an addi- tional man on patrol, in effect to ensure that cars are parked on tesidential streets, is an added expense and neither necessary nor desirable. The report by town staff that “residents are tolerating the intru- sion of these vehicles in front of their properties” is misreading their forbearance. This stop-gap measure cannol be allowed to become a permanent solution. It infringes on the rights of residents living anywhere near Beacon and Bevan and is detri- mental to the Town’s appearance. It is untidy and unsafe. Heavy and regular parking on residential streets makes driving more hazardous for drivers and pedestrians. It increases the already difficult visibility problem at intersections for cxample, onc only has to drive along Sidney Avenue to appreciate this. There are apparently plans to organize the entire block of privatc parking between 3rd and 4th as short-term parking at a modest {ce — right behind the central stores on the south side of Beacon. Such a lot should alleviate the problem. In addition, some of the town’s parking lots could be metered. Dennis Dubens Sidney Our Newcasile coal Editor: The older I get, the more | suspect we spend too much timc re-inventing the wheel. The cur- rent debate about using scwage ns fertilizer instead of dumping it in the sea or in landfill sites is a case in point. One of my old gardening books has a question-and-answer scction with some 50-year-old advice on this topic: “Q: The dried and pulverized sludge from sewage-disposal plants is used as a fertilizer not only for lawns and flowers but vegetables as well. Therefore, would not the liquid and sludge from septic tanks, after it has passed through the first compart- ment and just before it passes into the third or final compartment, be a good fertilizer? How would it compare with the liquid manure used by farmers? “A: Such sludge should be sat- isfactory as a fertilizer. It should compare favorably with liquid manure. “Q: The local sewage disposil sclls sewage settlings at 55¢ per 100 Ibs. Nothing has been added to this. How does this compare in value with barnyard manure and with other commercial fertilizers for use on lawn and garden? J have sandy soil. ~A: It should be a fairly good buy. It contains nearly twice the essential nutrients found in aver- age manure. Be sure the sludge contains no toxic substances. However, sewage sludge at 55c per 100 Ibs. is expensive when com- pared with commercial fertilizer such as 4-12-4. ~“Q: What is the valuc of sludge from sanitary district beds? At what rate should it be applicd for flower or vegetable gardens?” ~A: Recent reports (this is 1940, mind you) from the Ohio Agricul- tural Experimental Station indicatc that the analysis of sewage sludpe from 10 different cities varicd as follows: nitrogen 0.88 to 2.98 per- cent; phosphoric acid 0.42 to 2.10) percent; potash 0.05 to 1.6 percent. The report further showed that the nitrogen in sewage sludge was nol more than 10 to 15 percent as effective as the nitrogen in nitrate of soda.” To bring things more up to date, in the Sixties when we lived in Etobicoke, a suburb of Toronto, the municipality offered dried sludge free to anyone who cared to drive round and collect it. We used lots of it on our Jawns and flower beds. The presence of heavy metals such as cadium, originating from industrial waste, meant the sludge was unsafe to use on vegetables. But when sewage disposal was taken over and centralized by the Metropolitan Toronto authority, the local treatment plants closed down. What happens to the sludge now? Toronto sells it to Milwau- kee, and it is shipped back to Canada as Milorganite. Perhaps if Milorganite built a branch plant in Seattle we could work the same sort of deal. Talk about carrying coals to Newcastle! Ald. Maurice Chazottes North Saanich Christmas Seal » success Editor: The British Columbia Lung AssoCciation’s Christmas Scal Campaign was an overwhelming success, thanks to the gencrosity of contributors all over the province. _The association is grateful for the Support of your newspaper, your readers, and our regional Christ- mas Seal chairman Maurice Cownden of Victoria. During the Campaign, Oct. 15 through Jan. 31, donations reached a provide-wide total of $1,260,000 — 4a SIX per cent increasc over last year. Victoria-area residents were directly responsible for donating $168,301. Money raised helps fund vital medical research, and health education and community programs throughout B.C. Rick Weinman Volunteer President B.C. Lung Association The lease stretches Editor: As many of us expected, your front page story Feb. 12 (““Sanscha news awaited before town consid- ers go-ahead on port proposal’’) confirmed that Sidney Pier Hold- ings’ elastic-sided lease has been Stretched once again by a compli- ant majority of council, so that the third commercial building has in effect no deadline on it at all. Your story also says that Sidney Pier “has a building permit” for that building. That is not correct. When Ald. Calder asked at the Feb. 12 council meeting if a permit was held, the town administrator Continued on Page A8 49 @ 2s @ eX