Development in Montreal green spaces pose a threat to climate change initiatives

Environmental activists are concerned for the effects climate change will have on Montreal – as the city recently experienced the worst air quality in the world, caused by Quebec's forest fires. Forest fires are a natural occurrence in our environment. However, climate change leading to growing global temperatures have been causing these fires to burn 25 million acres eclipsing Canada’s previous annual record from 1989.

Part of protecting Montreal's environment is maintaining our natural green spaces – which provide island cooling, preventing heat island effect, which are urbanized areas that experience higher temperatures than rural areas. Trees and forests specifically also act as carbon sinks, absorbing CO2 that would instead be absorbed into our atmosphere, contributing to climate change. 

Local 514 recent toured Technoparc, a park located near Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport, which is home to various species of wildlife, but is threatened by development. Currently, Montreal's new transit system the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) is tunnelling under Technoparc to create the Marie-Currie station that will connect commuters to the airport. There is no concrete evidence it's leading to sinkholes in the area, but conservationists say sinkholes started forming after development begun. 

Before we toured Technoparc, Local 514 host Savanna Craig sat down on zoom with conservationist from Technoparc Oiseaux Katherine Collin. 

Collin told Local 514 that developing in Technoparc and other green spaces create a disruption in soil, which then disrupts carbon. She said it's detrimental to the environment to build over green spaces and that it's much better to build over previously asphalted spaces than it is to lose eco spaces of soil in Montreal and the rest of the province.