Back of the Pack

Not every city enjoys sprawl-limiting mountains, non-polluting industries or a heavy concentration of LEED-certified buildings. In fact, for some Canadian municipalities, it’s not easy being green at all—despite their best efforts.

Here are a few examples.

Fort McMurray, Alberta

“It’s a boomtown gone crazy,” says Keith Stewart, manager of WWF Canada’s climate change campaign. Think tar sands pollution, poor housing conditions and contaminated water and land for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations. Hey, when a Catholic bishop, Luc Bouchard, wades into an environmental debate and calls for a moratorium on further tar sands development, you know that divine intervention might be the only hope.

Sarnia, Ontario

This quote from a 2007 Ecojustice report sums up the situation perfectly: “What is particularly striking about the air pollution in the Sarnia area is the amount of toxic pollutants released. In 2005, the NPRI (National Pollutant Release Inventory) facilities in the Sarnia area emitted 5.7 million kilograms of ‘toxic air pollutants,’ including numerous chemicals associated with reproductive and developmental disorders and cancer among humans. These toxic air emissions are more than the NPRI releases from the entire provinces of Manitoba, New Brunswick or Saskatchewan and greater than any other community in Ontario.” Enough said.

Windsor, Ontario

On the bright side, Windsor has quite a few green infrastructure initiatives such as green roofs and a downspout disconnection program. On the dimmer side, with diesel trucks idling before crossing the border, downwind U.S. industry and nearby coal-fired power plants, Windsor residents breathe in some of the worst-quality air in Canada.