COLUMN: Citizens need to step up to help expand Greenbelt

Margaret Prophet, the executive director of the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition, is shown in a file photo.Tyler Evans/OrilliaMatters

From Barrie Today, by Margaret Prophet, 1 day ago.

This is the third in a three-part series of guest columns from the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition leading up to An Evening with Margaret Atwood, a sold-out fundraising event slated for Oct. 28.

Promoting highways and sprawl is entirely in the wrong direction to avoid water scarcity and contamination issues in the future, says advocate

The Greenbelt needs to be expanded to protect our water resources.

Through my last two columns, I spoke about what the Greenbelt take outs meant for Simcoe County and highlighted the deep connections to our environment that led to our region being one of the most active in protecting the Greenbelt.

I also spoke to the range of policy changes that have been implemented over the past six years that directly threaten the water, farmland and greenspaces we all know and love, including Lake Simcoe.

The reality is that a healthy environment is not something that is guaranteed. In fact, it wasn’t until this summer that Canadians’ right to a healthy environment was enshrined in legislation under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.

It would be nice if all levels of government were clearly focused when it comes to ensuring that we have clean, plentiful water, clean air and the ability to feed ourselves with local farmland. Sadly, this is far from the truth.

And the longer governments dither on putting in strong, protective policies or continue to perpetuate myths that you can’t have a strong economy as well as a healthy environment, the more urgent and more drastic their actions must become to avoid disaster.

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