To the Editor,
Re: Blue Community taps turned on again by council, June 28.
I commend city council for taking a stand and designating Nanaimo as a Blue Community.
This decision will benefit citizens today and future generations.
Some people are confused about the bottled water resolution, but it merely reaffirms the values inherent in the first two resolutions. If council believes that water is a human right and that municipal water systems should not be privatized for profit, then it follows that the city should promote the excellent water it provides and not be profiting from the sale of single use bottled water where clean tap water is available.
People will still be able to bring bottled water to city facilities and consume or give it away. The city is looking into bottle filling stations with filtered water, similar to those installed at facilities in many other communities.
To justify voting against the ban, Coun. George Anderson referenced the concept of ‘timeless freedoms’ ensuring the freedom of future generations through proactive action taken today. Do we have a ‘timeless freedom’ to continue trashing the planet or is it time to be more rational?
I think future generations are going to shake their head at the concept of digging up fossil fuels to create plastic bottles, which are trucked around, burning more non-renewable resources so that people can drink water from them and then discard them.
Reduce is the first R. We have oceans and landfills full of plastic.
Thanks for some sanity.
Paul Manly
Mid Island chapter
Council of Canadians