The Turcot Yard Snow Dump site has been updated and now includes video of the dump from the Falaise Saint Jacques, a high-angle view from the west end of the yard, and a 360-degree panoramic view from inside the snow piles – Ground ZERO as it were.
View the entire site here.
Commentary
Over the past three weeks, in addition to my visual coverage, I’ve had the opportunity to pass the Turcot Yard Snow Dump on a number of occasions and have noticed the snow piles have barely shrunk, the garbage contained in the piles is becoming exposed, the surface of the snow mounds is drying, and I have witnessed toxic-cleanup vehicles working on the site. Seemingly, aside from their novelty, no one is particularly interested in the potential threat to public health they pose.
I’m Chicken Little, once again. But the sky is falling; or at least the toxic dust will be falling.
The whole point of the site, and this area of my blog, is to draw attention to the long-term and untangible effects of this sort of pollution. I liken it to noise pollution (yet another hard-sell cause of mine) where the damage cannot be measured by short-term decibel logs based on intensity (mainly) but, and as medicine is now recognizing, must be examined as a long/medium-term phenomenon which takes weeks, months, years to manifest.
No longer is it acceptable to be exposed to the type of threat we see in the Turcot Yard Snow Dump. The decision to use these sites was very ill-informed and incompetent on a number of levels including their lack of planning/preparation, lack of motivation to attempt reduction of fallout, and failure to pre-conceive such a winter’s snowfall. Have the authorities learned nothing from the Ice Storm of 1998?
There are techniques & methods of minimizing the fallout from the snow piles yet no one is paying attention.
I hope there is a medical student or researcher out there who will take notice of this issue and study the fate of the children living in the area just east, and in the direct path of the prevailing winds, of the toxic Turcot Yard Snow Dump. This would make a very serious and important contribution to our understanding of urban toxic exposure.
Sadly it is children who will suffer the most as they, as organisms, are incredibly sensitive to their environments, particularly in their fomative and growing years, have no one to stand up for their health. It is like a form of child-abuse to allow your children to be exposed to such a situation. We have laws to stop people from exposing their own offspring from the harm of cigarette smoke yet we allow children to live next to a dump so full of chemical waste it is literally protected (sic) by lock and key.
Local mainstream media is also to blame for this state of affairs in their incompetent approach to the issue of the threat to health posed by the toxic-laden snow piles looming blackly on the west horizon from Saint Henri, and in many other locations; where are the news articles about these issues? Why no coverage of the “stories behind the story” of the snow dumps? Are there no more “jounalists” in Montreal? Rampant incompetence. Why are no journalists hounding the appropriate parties over this fiasco?
It is the responsibility of the media to further the good cause of society, to speak for the common man. It is high time to speak out against this abomination.
On a realted issue – I invite you to stay tuned for my coverage of the April 24, 2008, information session about the Flaises Saint Jacques hosted by the NDG Community Council. Those who couldn’t make the meeting will be able to see the highlights and hear the salient points put forth by the many parties interested in the fate of the NDG Escarpment – Falaise Saint-Jacques. A blog will be dedicated to the Falaise and related issues – just check back here within the week.
Posted in Environment - Weather - Nature, Turcot Yard Snow Dump 2008
Tags: commentary, Environment - Weather - Nature, media, Montreal, politics, Saint Henri, snow, Turcot Yard Snow Dump 2008, video
