BEA Vice-President Steve Papagiannis wrote an op ed which was published in the August 28th on-line edition of the Brampton Guardian. This guest column, the first in a series, is part of a collaboration between the Guardian and the Brampton Environmental Alliance. The intention is to raise awareness of and encourage discussion about local environmental issues during the municipal election campaign.

This first article focuses on Brampton’s air quality which is being affected in numerous ways. Steve talks about the obvious signs of air pollution, such as wildfire smoke, and the more insideous and equally dangerous forms, such those coming from our cars’ tailpipes or from local industry.

According to Steve, the economic costs of air pollution are staggaring at $146 billion annually. The human cost is equally concerning with 17,400 premature deaths and millions of productivity days lost due to air pollution. Read the whole article for more background and statistics.

While many aspects of air pollution are beyond our control, Steve talks about the things we can do to impact local air quality, like increasing the number of air quality monitoring stations in the city and encouraging our civic leaders to build Brampton in ways that reduce the need for car travel.

As the municipal election approaches be sure to ask your Brampton Council canditates about the actions they would take to reduce polution in our city. Stay tuned for more articles on what you can do to make Brampton a more environmentally sustainable city.