What “Green” Really Means
Posted: October 8th, 2008 | Author: James Glave | Filed under: Almost Green, autoculture, Global Warming, top | Tags: vancouver magazine bowen island turf war artificial tur | 4 Comments »
Here’s my latest, a piece about my own community’s wrenching struggles to deal with growth and change — change in both the cultural fabric and the climate itself. It’s a broad-ranging investigation of the in-between moment we all find ourselves in, where there are no easy answers, where fear, entitlement, and good-old-fashioned denial can dominate the conversation, and where we don’t always agree on what “green” really means on the ground. Here’s the key passage:
“The one thing that may kick-start the island’s flagging economy, help reverse affordability, downshift greenhouse-gas emissions, soften the coming blow of peak oil, and preserve miles of forest and meadow from the march of estate-home sprawl is the very thing that many Bowenites came here specifically to escape…”
Before you dive in, I need to correct an error, introduced in editing, that suggests the gases methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide can potentially cause cancer. The passage should have instead referenced “butadiene, cadmium, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.” The editors regret the error. Really, they do.
With that out of the way, here’s the link:
Turf War, Vancouver magazine, November 2008. [PDF File, 1MB]
Nice one.
But, without knowing any of the background, isn’t there a possible “third way” between artificial turf and soccer moms commuting?
Like just an old school basic grass or dirt or slightly gravelly pitch with a few lumps and bald spots. Decent, low maintenance alternatives must exist. Or does it have to meet certain standards for safety or other reasons?
Much of the world plays soccer with homemade balls and with little or no gear in whatever open space they can find. And they generally kick Canada’s ass at all levels of the sport.
Hi Matt, good question. The issue is complex and has hugely polarized the community, and I had to leave a lot out to get to some of the larger themes. Turf advocates say that because we get so much rain here, the existing field is simply dangerous to play on for so much of the year, ie holes that twist ankles etc, and that the field is necessary to provide a greater range of options for all-weather recreation. Opponents say that the proposed field is too expensive, will kill trees, is ugly, and will be too small to be much use anyway to many beyond young teens, and some suggest that if the soccer fans want it, they should finance it and build it elsewhere as a private facility. Legions of consultants and landscape architects have evaluated at as many as nine different options and locations and concluded this the proposed facility is the best way to go, in other words, they argue that this IS the middle ground; but very outspoken opponents don’t seem to put much stock in their findings.
When I lived in Deep Cove in N.Van my little 800 sq ft house fronted on a gravel lane lined with flowered bushes. A number of people on that lane wanted to pave the lane for a variety of reasons, all perfectly rational and scientically substantiated.
I resisted, claiming that it would spoil the ‘ambiance’ of the lane.
They paved the lane, it spoiled the ambiance. I moved to Bowen.
[...] Many Bowen Islanders feel that, while we could be doing better in some areas, our current arrangement serves us well. We’re close to Costco when we need it, but still offer authentic island character, a tight-knit community, and small-town charm. Density is bad, 10-acre lots are good. I wrote a feature on this schism a couple years back. [...]