136. Bay of Quinte

07/16/21 • 29 min

Sarah Midlane-Jones is the communications coordinator for Bay of Quinte Remedial Action Plan, an organization dedicated to keeping the water clean in the Bay of Quinte on the northern shore of Lake Ontario.

Photo of Moira River flowing into Bay of Quinte from https://www.greatlakesscuttlebutt.com/news/featured-destination/come-ashore-discover-the-bay-of-quinte-region/

For thousands of years rivers have been used around the world for waste removal. Cities would throw waste in and watch it head downstream where it's no longer their problem. Sadly this still happens all over the world today in developing countries. When the city of Belleville, on the north shore of Lake Ontario was settled and developed, a lot of waste ended up going down the Moira River into the Bay of Quinte. Locals here still remember when Zwick's Park was a landfill and the Bay of Quinte had a dirty reputation.

Fast forward to today and the landfill mound is a grassy hill, popular for tobogganing in the wintertime, with a few short pipes allowing any gases to escape. The water is closely monitored and usually safe for swimming. The Bay of Quinte is one of the best spots in the world for walleye fishing while turtles, ducks and swans are spotted on the surface.

BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO- AUGUST 1, 2013- South George Park. photo by Simon Wilson/ Canadian Press Images

The Bay of Quinte is an environmental success story and proof that we can restore our eco systems and waterways while continuing to grow our population in a sustainable way.

Photo of Moira River flowing into Bay of Quinte from https://www.greatlakesscuttlebutt.com/news/featured-destination/come-ashore-discover-the-bay-of-quinte-region/

BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO- AUGUST 1, 2013- South George Park. photo by Simon Wilson/ Canadian Press Images

The Bay of Quinte is an environmental success story and proof that we can restore our eco systems and waterways while continuing to grow our population in a sustainable way.

Previous Episode

135. Pipelines on Indigenous Land

Canada has some of the most ethical and environmentally friendly processes for extracting and transporting oil and gas in the world, yet we've become a hotspot for pipeline protestors who often recruit indigenous people to strengthen their efforts. The truth is that not all indigenous people and groups oppose pipelines in Canada for many different reasons. We explore some of these reasons from an indigenous perspective, as well as the process Canada goes through to put a pipeline through or near indigenous land.

Melissa Mbarki is a Policy Analyst and Outreach Coordinator in the Indigenous Policy Program at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. She works in acquisition/divestment, environmental site assessments and abandonment/reclamation projects and has joins the Zero Waste Countdown to talk about pipelines on indigenous land.

Photo Source: https://www.commodityresearchgroup.com/us-canadian-pipelines-refineries-map-capp/

We discuss throughout this episode how pipelines are the safest mode of oil and gas transport and when environmental groups block them, it means we get our oil from countries with poor human rights and environmental records while increasing the number of dangerous rail cars and polluting diesel trucks.

Next Episode

137. Neatly Cleaning Product

Iryna Rosetti Pacheco spent many years as a chemist in the cleaning industry before developing a new cleaning product called Neatly, which comes without plastic packaging or harmful chemicals.

Her product is available on her shop's website Dew South, a zero waste shop based in Canada.