We lived in the city of Sudbury for eleven years and seemed to be constantly defending our choice to live there to friends and family from Southern Ontario. Why would we want to live in a place that looked like the moon? What about the emissions from the INCO smelter in Copper Cliff. We loved Northern Ontario and Sudbury was a good place to raise a family. Not only were we close to real wilderness, the city and its environs underwent a transformation from "scorched earth" to "re-greening."
Just before we left the community I spoke on a Sunday morning about the efforts of the mining companies and government to replant areas which fifteen years before were black and barren with the effects of sulphur. The so-called Superstack smelter in Copper Cliff was being retro-fitted with scrubbers so that sulphur dioxide was greatly reduced. When I showed before and after photos of the growth of trees over the years, members who had lived there for a lifetime were moved.
I was intrigued to read about the latest project undertaken by Vale (formerly INCO.) It is a 10 million dollar remediation project around the smelter which includes planting wildflowers on formerly barren land. And what critters produce "liquid gold" from flowers? Yup, the nickel giant is now in the honey business thanks to the introduction of seven bee hives. A former miner named Wayne Tonelli worked in Sudbury’s nickel mines for forty years and now he is a beekeeper. but his new gig is pretty sweet.
Just before we left the community I spoke on a Sunday morning about the efforts of the mining companies and government to replant areas which fifteen years before were black and barren with the effects of sulphur. The so-called Superstack smelter in Copper Cliff was being retro-fitted with scrubbers so that sulphur dioxide was greatly reduced. When I showed before and after photos of the growth of trees over the years, members who had lived there for a lifetime were moved.
I was intrigued to read about the latest project undertaken by Vale (formerly INCO.) It is a 10 million dollar remediation project around the smelter which includes planting wildflowers on formerly barren land. And what critters produce "liquid gold" from flowers? Yup, the nickel giant is now in the honey business thanks to the introduction of seven bee hives. A former miner named Wayne Tonelli worked in Sudbury’s nickel mines for forty years and now he is a beekeeper. but his new gig is pretty sweet.
There are a lot of Vale employees who are not fans of the company and I understand why. But it's important to give credit where credit is due. There is also an underground tree greenhouse, begun during the INCO days, which provides the seedlings to plant more than 10 million evergreens in the Sudbury area. The mining firm also farms fish and to date has released 5,000 rainbow trout and 1,000 walleye into local rivers.
We humans manage to make a huge mess of the planet, and corporations often demonstrate psychopathic tendencies when it comes to treatment of Creation. I am encouraged by this effort, even if it may be dismissed by some as tokenism.
What do you think?
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