Stop Sprawl Students brings advocates, students and community members to Manorun Farm to discuss impacts of urban expansion and pathways to sustainable development
For the second consecutive year, the campus student group Stop Sprawl Students hosted an event at Manorun Farm, located just outside of Hamilton in Copetown, Ontario.
Held on Nov. 2, 2024, the aim of the event was to help students and community members connect with Ontario farmlands and raise awareness about urban sprawl and sustainable urban planning. This event, held in collaboration with students from SUSTAIN 3S03, offered hands-on farming experiences and discussions around sustainable urban development.
Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas MPP Sandy Shaw, an environmental opposition critic, spoke to the Silhouette at the event. "It is so nice to see people who appreciate and are here to enjoy what Ontario farmland has to offer. We know that farmland is at risk, so this is a really inspiring and hopeful event for me," said Shaw.
Stop Sprawl Students emphasizes the negative effects of urban expansion, explaining how city growth into surrounding farmland and greenbelt areas contributes to the reduction of agricultural land and increases car dependency.
Emily Gual, co-founder and president of Stop Sprawl Students, said that Hamilton's Class 1 farmland, among the best in Ontario, is under threat from development. "This is a chance for students to see the real-world impact of sprawl," said Gaul, noting that many students have limited exposure to Ontario farmland. Gual claimed that this expansion into and reduction of farmland can increase grocery prices and reliance on imported foods.
This is a chance for students to see the real-world impact of sprawl.
Emily Gaul, co-founder and president
Stop Sprawl Students
Chris Krucker, who operates Manorun Farm with his family, provided a tour of the farm, detailing sustainability efforts like planting 1,500 native trees and shrubs, including pine, oak and various fruit trees, to support local ecosystems. He encouraged attendees at the event to grow locally grown food.
Addressing the group on farmland loss, MPP Shaw discussed Ontario’s loss of Class 1 farmland, noting that about 319 acres are lost daily. She highlighted projects like Highway 413, which would impact thousands of acres of farmland and waterways. “We need to realize what we’re losing in Ontario and once it’s lost, we’re not getting it back,” said Shaw.
Stop Sprawl Students is active in local advocacy, including a campaign to repeal Schedule 12 in Bill 185, which allows developers to appeal municipal building permit decisions to the Ontario Land Tribunal, enabling urban expansion.
MPP Shaw spoke about how she hopes students realize the power they can have when they raise their voices together. "I'm hoping the folks here [will] raise their voice to say that we need to protect this. People raised their voices about the Greenbelt [and] students need to know that when we stand together, we are powerful," said Shaw.
I'm hoping the folks here [will] raise their voice to say that we need to protect this. People raised their voices about the Greenbelt [and] students need to know that when we stand together, we are powerful.
Sandy Shaw, Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas MPP
The event provided both hands-on learning and insights into the significance of sustainable development. Evan Brooks, a third-year SUSTAIN 3S03 student, shared their thoughts after attending the event. “Beyond the games and the fun, there’s a powerful message here,” said Brooks.
Another attendee, Stop Sprawl Students member Leilani Hana, spoke about how important they think Stop Sprawl Students' activism is. “I really enjoy being a part of Stop Sprawl Students; it’s an important club teaching young people to be part of their environments,” said Hana.
Concluding the event, Gual urged students to “take action” in sustainable development and farmland preservation issues within their communities, emphasizing that involvement can range from attending city planning meetings and supporting local food sources to joining advocacy groups like Stop Sprawl Students.
While Indigenous communities still lack access to safe drinking water, we continue to pollute and take for granted our most precious, life-sustaining resource
If you are a citizen of a major urban city who is lucky enough to have four walls and a roof to come home to and a livable income, it is likely that without even realizing it, you take water for granted. If you ever feel the slightest bit of thirst, you merely turn on the tap, maybe even run the water through a Brita filter and just like that your thirst is quenched.
People might not think about where that water comes from or what happens to it when it passes through our sewage systems. Nor about the fact that not far from us are Indigenous communities which do have to worry daily about the safety of their drinking water.
Although we all live within the same country, Indigenous communities have faced and continue to face a lack of access to clean drinking water, posing a prominent health concern for decades.
Although we all live within the same country, Indigenous communities have faced and continue to face a lack of access to clean drinking water, posing a prominent health concern for decades.
Since 1995 the Neskantaga First Nation community has been living under a drinking water advisory. For 29 years this community, much like other Indigenous communities, have had to boil their water before consuming. The uncertain health risk has led to some communities only drinking bottled water. Imagine the only trustable source of water you have access to throughout your life was water that came in plastic bottles.
On top of this, Ontario has been and continues to release only partially treated sewage water into Lake Ontario. This has led to our waterfronts being unsafe to drink from or even swim in. In addition, the Great Lakes are now polluted with microplastics.
Recently in Hamilton there has been an increase of sewage flowing into Lake Ontario. Not only has this been an ongoing issue, but it’s becoming worse as the years progress. As wastewater spreads into our waterways, it negatively impacts the biodiversity found within these ecosystems which further feeds into the negative spiral of poor water quality.
Recently in Hamilton there has been an increase of sewage flowing into Lake Ontario. Not only has this been an ongoing issue, but it’s becoming worse as the years progress.
The Hamilton sewage leakage in 2019 was reported to leak approximately 24 billion litres of wastewater into Chedoke Creek over four years. The latest reports on the progress of addressing this issue state that the city is still working on cleaning up the contamination of sewage.
We all share Earth’s water supply because water is fluid. How one region of the globe pollutes its water supply impacts all of us. Just because our pollution is localized to the Great Lakes doesn’t mean that this water hasn’t travelled internationally.
Our communities are all connected. Thus, we need to do better in how we treat our water before we return the water we have used to nature. If you have not yet experienced direct impacts of this issue, we can assure you that consequences are beginning to appear.
For example, there have been frequent E. coli warnings at the Ontario beaches this summer preventing people from enjoying the water. The dangerous levels of E. coli have been attributed to the poor management of rainwater during storms, leading to a backlog of sewage seeping into our beach water.
We hope that we can safely assume our readers believe that access to safe drinking water is a human right. Water being a human right means that we ought to ensure everyone has access to it and that we treat it with great care.
The next time you go to turn on the tap, think about why you and not someone else doesn’t have to fear they won’t be hydrated one day.
The next time you go to turn on the tap, think about why you and not someone else doesn’t have to fear they won’t be hydrated one day. We encourage you reflect on the immense privilege so many of us possess and speak up about what today should no longer be an issue.
By Morgan Parcells, Contributor
Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg agrees: hot girl summer was way too hot.
At the forefront of a global sustainability movement, Greta Thunberg seems to have lit a fire amongst younger generations. She inspired hundreds of thousands of individuals to take part in Fridays For Future, Greta’s very own climate strike, across the world on Sept. 27, 2019.
On Aug. 20, 2018, Thunberg singlehandedly began the development of her global movement with the very first Fridays For Future protest outside of her local parliament. The following week, her fellow students joined her in taking a stand for the environment. After only a few weeks, Fridays For Future became a weekly occurrence.
Thunberg’s ideas quickly garnered attention from neighbouring countries and Fridays For Future began to spread internationally. By February 2019, more than 30 countries across the world were participating. In August 2019, Thunberg attended the United Nations’ Climate Summit in the United States, and students in over 165 countries took part in Fridays For Future.
To some, the idea of climate activism is an entirely new idea. However, others may believe that an environmental political movement has been at play for a greater portion of history. The question stands: how long have we known about the climate crisis?
In 1896, the first scientific evidence of human-induced climate change was discovered: Swedish scientist Svente Arrhenius found that human carbon emissions have a direct contribution to the warming of the atmosphere.
In 1938, British inventor and engineer Guy Stewart Callendar posited that a correlation exists between the warming land temperatures and human carbon emissions. Callendar’s research was largely ignored by the scientific community of his time.
In 1960, American scientist Charles David Keeling — known for the Keeling Curve — found that carbon dioxide emissions were rising.
Clearly, the science has been in our grasp for over a century, but only relatively recently have we begun paying significant attention. Many credit Thunberg as the sole pivotal voice in the conversation around global climate issues. While her impact is nearly unmatched in the social world, the voice of Thunberg is not a lonely one. For decades, there have been voices of colour proclaiming the same message as Thunberg. Although her message is undoubtedly an important one, it would be disappointing to look past the second message Thunberg is sending — that the world only listens when white activists decide to speak up.
Despite doing the same work as Thunberg, climate change activists of colour are largely ignored.
Autumn Peltier, 13-year-old water advocate, addresses UN: pic.twitter.com/KaJ1aW5610
— Arlan 👊🏾 (@ArlanWasHere) September 28, 2019
Only 15 years old, Indigenous activist Autumn Peltier addressed the United Nations on the same day as Thunberg, urging the organization to protect the world’s universal right to clean water. She has been an advocate for these issues for the majority of her young life, having attended the Children’s Climate Conference in Sweden at only 11 years old and even personally addressing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about his broken promises regarding Indigenous Canadian populations. At the age of 14, Autumn was named chief water commissioner by the Anishinabek Nation.
Eleven-year-old Ridhima Pandey calls Uttarakhand, India home and has been a climate change activist for the past few years. When she was only nine years old, Pandey filed a legal complaint against the Indian government for their failure to reduce and regulate the emission of greenhouse gases that heavily contribute to climate change. Her petition reached the National Green Tribunal.
Greta has done amazing work in calling for action on the #ClimateEmergency.
But don't forget Ridhima, Kaluki, Aditya, Nina, Autumn, Leah, or any of the other incredible young activists working for the future of this planet. https://t.co/CgheGTYtaR pic.twitter.com/DyuY1cWjh9— Greenpeace International (@Greenpeace) October 5, 2019
Beyond the two bright individuals detailed above, there exists a world of young climate leaders of colour who face global issues at a harsher level than most white communities will ever see.
The choice to champion Thunberg as the leader of the global climate advocacy movement holds a large amount of political weight behind it, exposing our tendency to champion those with lighter skin in place of coloured individuals who work just as hard, if not harder.
It is not wrong of us to recognize Thunberg’s dedication, passion and undying mission to save the world. But it is most definitely wrong of us to fail to acknowledge and appreciate the voices of colour who have been pushing this conversation for decades.
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