Visited with my dad last week. For me that means traveling from one side of Ontario to the other. Canada is a big country. It’s a good 9-10 hour trip. Anyways, my dad lives in a region known as Chemical valley. Sarnia, and it’s surrounding enclaves, is known for refiners. Vast expanses of land are turned towards the production of petrol chemicals. It is to a scale I thought only imagined. Smoke stakes and enormous chemical drums frame the streets as you drive into town. So big, so many, so much production.
Today, they say, the smoke runs clean; but there was a time, not that long ago, when the air and land was very much poisoned by these industrial behemoths. And they sprung up like mushrooms, appearing in unexpected places like beside a church, or along the waterfront, or by a park. They even built these around native lands. They say the land is so poisoned there that two-head snakes have been known to grow. The cleanup, if it ever happens, is beyond the economics of any small community.
Sarnia is also on the Great Lakes. The Untied States just across the water. It’s at a point where the lake narrows. They built a bridge here to unite the nations. Today these same waters are heavily patrolled by the homeland security helicopters and drones of the Americans; ever vigilant agains us unfriendly Canadian’s I guess.
This day we went to the docks for supper at an Irish pub. Was a nice meal. The fish n’chips came recommended and they were good. Snapped a few pics of the location. Not of the food or the interior. Was too busy eating for that. Just a few sights around the pub.
So many American forget that Canada is just a bit bigger than the US. SMDH in dismay at my countrymen…
Glad you had a good time with your Dad. Every time I see those petrochemical flames, I wonder why they aren’t being used for something useful. Like Geothermal energy that isn’t quite SO clean….
I’m surprised too we somehow haven’t moved beyond that. Like somehow we all should be driving nuclear fusion powered cars or something like that today, instead of the same old internal combustion. I’m hopeful for battery electric. But it’s still in it’s infancy; somehow centuries after the AC motor and batteries were invented they remain heavy and inefficient over long ranges….
I do remain hopeful for a brighter future. I do see us moving away from fossil fuels, and soon; but the effects remain long lasting. All our pollution, and the industries needed to support it, remains and impressive sight.
Thanks for your comments.