{"id":1273,"date":"2012-05-23T20:32:20","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T20:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/?page_id=1273"},"modified":"2012-05-23T20:32:20","modified_gmt":"2012-05-23T20:32:20","slug":"pave-paradise-and-put-up-an-airport","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/summer-2012-issue\/external-news\/pave-paradise-and-put-up-an-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Pave Paradise and Put up an Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lara Powell<\/strong><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cFood doesn\u2019t grow on runways\u201d, \u201cYou can\u2019t milk planes\u201d, \u201cThanks Land
\nOver Landings – Love, Children of the Future\u201d \u2013 These were just a few of the
\nmessages written on the signs being carried down Brock Road in North Pickering
\non the morning of March 2nd<\/sup>, 2012. That day marked the fortieth
\nanniversary of a peaceful protest against an airport that would cover thousands
\nof acres of Ontario\u2019s best farmland.<\/p>\n

On March 2nd<\/sup>, 1972, a passionate group of local men and
\nwomen rose up to begin the battle against the airport. They had no idea that
\nfour decades later they would still be fighting.<\/p>\n

Alongside fellow advocates at a recent gathering, I listened to
\nseveral of these courageous people with awe and respect, grateful for all that
\nthey\u2019ve done to protect the beautiful land my Aunt and Uncle have called home
\nfor 38 years.<\/p>\n

This issue is huge. It will not only impact a few local farmers but
\nthe future of all of Ontario, especially Toronto, and potentially the world. Remember
\nthat talk about the need to eat locally at the Earth Day assembly? Well, I
\ndon\u2019t think paving 11 000 acres of farmland right next to Canada\u2019s largest city
\nis going to help with that!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going to really need to happen is that Toronto gets behind
\nsaving this property because this is a jewel of a piece of land that can feed
\nToronto forever,\u201d said Bill Lishman, one of the original advocates against the
\nairport. A secure food source next to Toronto isn\u2019t just a nice idea; it will
\nsoon be necessary.<\/p>\n

In 1972 the Federal Government expropriated 30 square miles of land
\nfor the airport. Since then, parts have been protected but approximately 11 000
\nacres are still being threatened.<\/p>\n

North American agriculture requires 1.2 acres of land per person per year to feed us, but by 2050 only 0.6 acres per person. In the future, food security will be a major issue all over the world; for many, it already is. Millions of people in the world are dying
\nof starvation right now and meanwhile our government is planning to pave over
\n11 000 acres of farmland for an unnecessary airport.\u00a0 As demonstrator Bob Almack said, \u201cGod only gave us 3% of our land mass as class one and two (good quality soil for
\nagriculture). We\u2019ve lost half of it. We need to draw a line in the sand.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also many other reasons why this airport is a bad idea. The
\nPickering Nuclear Power Station is just one minute\u2019s flying time away from the
\nproposed main flight path, creating an avoidable danger. The airport would cost
\nmillions if not billions of taxpayers\u2019 dollars. It would be right next to Rouge
\nNational Park, a nature preserve and home to the Toronto Zoo and its precious
\ninhabitants, and it would pollute our fresh air and water resources. Furthermore,
\nthe land is covered with historic buildings, dating back to the 1840\u2019s, and
\nholds our peoples\u2019 history and heritage.<\/p>\n

Remember the song Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell that goes \u201cDon\u2019t it
\nalways seem to go that you don\u2019t know what you\u2019ve got till it\u2019s gone …\u201d?
\nWell, we need to avoid that situation in Pickering. We need to fight for this
\nland before it\u2019s too late<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lara Powell   \u201cFood doesn\u2019t grow on runways\u201d, \u201cYou can\u2019t milk planes\u201d, \u201cThanks Land Over Landings – Love, Children of the Future\u201d \u2013 These were just a few of the messages written on the signs being carried down Brock Road … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":1269,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1273","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1274,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1273\/revisions\/1274"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graffiti.ntci.on.ca\/2011-12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}