I am proud to be an “enviro nerd”. During this federal election campaign, I have been distressed on numerous levels for numerous reasons. Every time I see a plastic campaign sign (and they are everywhere!), I start to twitch. Extrapolate what we see here in the greater Edmonton area and your mind, like mine, will reel when imagining the toll this upcoming dump of plastic is going to take on our environment as it will, most assuredly, end up in landfills across the country to languish and pollute for an uncountable number of years.
Why would no candidate or party, most notably the Green Party, find an alternative to plastic signs and their impact? (I have heard that hemp, for example, could be a sustainable and biodegradable source for such purposes.)
Do we even need to mention the impact on global warming and consumption of fossil fuels with candidates flying back and forth across Canada for almost six weeks? We have heard some mention of global warming during this campaign but I have not once heard the words “recycle,” “plastic,” “reduce” or “conserve.”
I fully embrace the much-overdue reduction of single-use plastics. (Don’t get me started on take-out cups, straws and food packaging!) Do campaign signs not fall under this category?
Let’s get LOUD and demand that, next election, politicians address this most obvious and avoidable of environmental blunders. I would personally knock on doors to support the first party that signs on for environmentally sustainable campaigning.
Barbara Meyer, St. Albert
