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Letter: Burnaby's downtown plan flies in the face of climate action

Editor: Why are we bothering to sort our plastics, papers, yard waste? The answer is that we care about the environment and that the City of Burnaby has made a point of providing good recycling facilities, recognizing the impact of climate change.
Metrotown, aerial photo, downtown
Canada's third-busiest mall, Metropolis at Metrotown, will be replaced with a new downtown core, if a developer's plans go ahead.

Editor:

Why are we bothering to sort our plastics, papers, yard waste?  The answer is that we care about the environment and that the City of Burnaby has made a point of providing good recycling facilities, recognizing the impact of climate change.

 On the other hand, the planning for Burnaby’s future downtown involves tearing down perfectly good buildings and stores – many of the latter being renovated as we speak.  The amount of material needing recycling and/or proper disposal is staggering.  Do we not already have a downtown in Metrotown?  On any given day, one is already overwhelmed by the crowded streets and stores.

If Burnaby truly wants to lead in dealing with climate change, the city won’t undertake such future massive projects that will consume huge amounts of energy, and create similarly huge amounts of detritus.

Shirley Cohn