A new Clean Air Bylaw in Prince George gave tips to residences on how to reduce air pollution on a small scale. A writer pointed out how the tips seemed to blame the Prince George residents for the air pollution and not the Prince George pulp mill, which produces the most visible air pollution.
The writer has a valid point; the pulp mill and other industries should be held to air pollution requirements. However, individual residents of Prince George should also try to minimize their pollution.
An official Sonoma Technology Report given in Feb. 2008 studied the air pollution in P.G. The results were that in winter wood burning, pulp mill pollution, and carbon emissions contributed to 32 per cent, 26 per cent, and 19 per cent of the particulate matter in the air, respectively. The three sources averaged over the year were all within 2 per cent of each other. Thus, giving tips on how to reduce wood burning and suggesting less driving would reduce the 51 per cent of the air pollution in P.G. in the winter.
Regardless of what the industries do, we should do our part by carpooling when feasible, biking or walking when the weather is nice and there is time, and recycling among other things. If we as residents do our part, we can be an example that can motivate the industries and other people, not minimizing their pollution, to do their part.
Plus, even if the industries are not directly motivated, the city council and other Prince George leadership will be more likely to enforce pollution bylaws if they see that reducing air pollution is important enough to some people and industries.
Thus, it is a far bigger, effective statement to reduce what we can, reasonably and feasibly, instead of blaming bigger polluters.
Kenneth Colson
Prince George
