Читать книгу Let It Snow - Darryl Humber - Страница 6

FOREWORD by Hazel McCallion, C.M.

I have been Mayor of the City of Mississauga, Canada’s sixth-largest city and Ontario’s third largest, for over thirty years and am well aware of the ways in which our patterns of urban growth have had an effect not only on our quality of life, but conditions, like the weather, we take for granted.

As a young girl growing up in Quebec, I enjoyed the winter months when we counted on snowfalls and freezing nights to make the ice strong for skating and the hills alive with the sound of toboggans.

Those winters made it possible for me to eventually play professional women’s hockey in Montreal, though my salary of five dollars a game might not turn too many heads today.

However, we can’t be certain any longer about what kind of winter we might get — some have lots of snow, others barely a flake. But we’re beginning to understand that the places in which we live have an impact on our climate. The long-term prognosis of many experts isn’t encouraging. It would be sad indeed if the Winter Olympics in Vancouver 2010 was the last time we could hold outdoor winter events in Canada because of the season’s unpredictability.

Historically, Mississauga started out as a bedroom community with many of the conditions we now associate with urban sprawl. I wish now that more attention had been given to higher-density or transit-supportive land uses along our arterial roads. We are now trying to reverse some of the worst aspects of sprawl, and in so doing, contribute to the reduction in factors causing global warming.

These measures include providing more local employment opportunities, enhancing our natural areas, establishing a more compact and efficient urban form that supports transit, and improving the quality of our built environment and the unique character of our communities.

Mississauga is aware of the ability of trees to mitigate the impacts of climate change. It has also discovered first-hand the impacts of more extreme weather on tree health and increased tree damage. The City, under its Strategic Plan, has established ambitious targets to increase tree cover and will, in the future, select tree species with the potential impacts of climate change and invasive insects in mind.

I myself continue to skate and enjoy our winter conditions, but as I do, I am mindful of the duty we all have to ensure that future generations will experience the same magnificent enjoyment of this splendid season.

I welcome Darryl and William Humber’s book, which is not only sounding an alarm about the threat to our outdoor winter sports, but also reminding us how joyful those activities continue to be. Theirs is a message of hope that something can be done to ensure winter’s long-term health.

The people in Mississauga are trying to do their part to keep the ice frozen and the hills alive with the sound of toboggans. I have no plans to pack my skates away anytime soon!

Hazel McCallion, C.M.

Mayor