Population Problems

Today, I went to my sister’s provincial soccer championships in North Vancouver. As I stood atop the mountain-like soccer field, I was amazed by the view as I could see most of Vancouver and the water- so beautiful. Until, my sister informed me that “Inter River Park” (the location of the game) was built on top of a landfill! What does this mean? Are we running out of space? Is this even safe?

The population of Vancouver already stands at 2.4 million, a 159,000 increase since 2005; the city continues to grow and so does the garbage. Each person will generate approximately 1.5 tonnes of waste in their lifetime; as Vancouver’s population increased from 2 million to 3 million, waste generation’s anticipated to rise from 3 million to 4.5 million tonnes per year.

Vancouver is known for their beautiful parks, landscapes and forests, “however the shortage of grass sports fields to meet growing demand has become more of a concern in the District of North Vancouver, particularly given tight fiscal budgets, and a limited land base to expand upon. Over the past 15 years, to meet recreational needs, Inter River Park has been converted from a closed landfill site to an active sports field park.”
“All garbage is bad garbage. There is no effective way to rid the environment of our trash. The only real answer is to not make it in the first place.” Read on to learn more about how you can be active in reducing your garbage!
Sources:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=202251
http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/solidwaste/zerowaste/Pages/default.asp

http://www.sitelines.org/sitelines/archive/2006/OCTOBER06.pdf