Catchy tune by local artists. Too bad their talent has been directed towards air quality propaganda. Jumping on the feel good or bad ,band wagon, what ever the case is not part of any solutions that will improve any real or precieved issues with PG air. The answer is to identify specific sources and deal with them in a scientific manner that minimizes impact on people/economy in this area. Shutting down industry, cars, trucks , trains etc. is not going to happen in the near term, the working public will not allow it. I suppose singing, praying, power broking specifc agenda's may feel like something is being done, however misguided. All in all its a hypocritical stance. We all heat our houses,drive vehicles and wipe our butts, this makes all of us part of the enviroment.

Research confirms that the feeling of control - perceiving that you have the power to shape even small aspects of your fate - can have a huge impact on human well-being. Big problems can be solved only one small step at a time and progress can be made if many people take many small, positive steps in the right direction. Good on you Moses and "Stamo" for keeping this issue in the news and showing your willingness to take a positive step forward.

I wish we had more people on this earth who take the attitude we can't do anything about our condition. If that were the case, we would not be in the trouble we are in with several billion people too many on this earth trying to survive.

But, seeing that we are here and have far too large a population, we really need people with more of a can-do attitude so that we can make more of the cards this and future generations have been and will be dealt.

"Shutting down industry, cars, trucks , trains etc. is not going to happen in the near term"

Did anyone ever say that? Sort of a scare tactic isn't it?

1. Shutting down industry or providing them with an incentive to use Best Available Control Technology are two completely different things. People tend to point their finger at China and say they need to clean up first. Why do they not look at Europe and see what they have done to clean up their act over the last 40 years. We have a long way to go. They have not shut down their industry, far from it.
2. same with cars. California pointed the way, Europe added major surcharges on gasoline decades ago that make our puny carbon tax look like a penny ante. The result? they still have cars, but far better fuel economy and less pollutant.
3. trucks .. I don't know and don't have the time to research.
4. trains. Europe rund mainly with electric trains. For some reason North America is shunning that obvious solution as well. Hydro and some other forms of electricity are renewable resources. On top of that they are considerably cleaner.

Not going to happen in the nesar term? No, it is much better that we put all our efforts into creating holographihc televisons. Who gives a chit about the chit we pollute our own world and our own bodies with.

Well said gus!
It's all about money!

Its not the cars, newer cars are cleaner than ever! dont go around blaming them for the air quality in PG...people that have lived here awhile know who the real culprits are.

I have not heard about it, but do you really hate this town, so that you claim your fame at the expense of every homeowner in this city.

Thanks for nothing.

Thank you for this. EVERY effort made to clean up the killing air in Prince George is a good effort. The bottom line is your health and the health of your families.

You just cant compare Europe to us here.
First, where ever you want to go you can use a Bus, Streetcar or Train, Trains leave on the Hour to every City and how would you feel about it if you had to change your Heating System 3 times in 35 Years to meet the New Standards (no Choice or your Gas or Heating Oil is turned off) and KWH are 25Cents plus and in the 1960 Gasoline was 50 Cents a Liter or 50 Cents for 4.6 Liters here. Driving a Car in Europe cost you many times more then it does here. The Air is not all that great in the big Cities there.
Many times a Year Pollution goes above the EU Limits!

"You just cant compare Europe to us here."

Now hold on there.

You CAN compare small town industrial Europe - take the western part and not the new eastern partners as well - to small town industrial North America.

You CAN also compare large megalopolis Europe to the same in North America.

Let er rip. Tell me about air pollution in a German city of 80,000 or so.

Look at the size of our city. In Europe it would hold a million people. Look at the tax base that they can get out of a million people compared to 80,000. There is no way that we can support a public transit system to match them.

Are you capable of charging every home an additional $1500.00 a year to cover this cost. Get real, we can make a change to what happens out there by making changes at the home front. Big industry has been cleaning up there act. Of course we are going to have days with high particulates. These days are not always at the fault of industry.We still need to get around town. We still need to jobs to pay for our lifestyles. We all can't work for government. We have to make stuff and sell it to the rest of the world so that our wealth does not get depleted over four years. Its a balancing act between the controlled polution and providing good paying primary industry jobs.

Instead of flying to China or getting a firm from California to tell us what is causing our bad air (like we really need that anyway), why don't we do spend some dough to do some direct comparison to mill operations in the Scandanavian countries and see how we stack up in regards to emissions and pollution?

Instead of lobbying for money for a PAC, spending riches on a new RCMP station or building a new Cameron Street bridge, why don't we put that dough into pollution control instead? Why don't we wash and/or sweep the streets more often? Why don't we try and clear the roads more often in the winter so that we don't need to use as much sand? Why couldn't we try and come up with some dough to help move some of the industrial operations out of the bowl? Why don't we make industrial land owners pave their facilities to reduce the amount of dust? There are so many tangible things that the city could look into it isn't even funny and yet the solutions they start with are simply asinine in the grand scheme of things.

Regarding industry, of course they have a SIGNIFICANT impact on our air. People also need to wake up to the fact that for the most part, they won't undertake major changes unless they are forced to. There are some exceptions where good corporate citizens can still be found, but they are getting to be few and far between when it comes to stuff like this. Their mandate is to ensure that they are operating within allowable limits. Our job as citizens is to ensure that those limits represent what WE expect from our industry, not the other way around. If that bar changes with the times, so be it. Change is constant and every large business knows it. Heck, they use it to their own advantage all the time.

As for them shutting down? You're trying to tell me that it would be cheaper to build a brand new mill (complete with up to date pollution control equipment) than to simply retrofit pollution control equipment to an existing mill? I don't buy it, nor do I buy the argument that they are doing everything they can.

The way I see it, the City can be a leader and actually start making PROGRESS on this issue (and reap the benefits in the process), or it can sit on its hands, put together a few reports and talk about it, all the while taking on the role of a complete stooge. Nobody ever said being a leader was easy, but it does take courage, commitment and more importantly ACTION. Thus far the amount of leadership put forth by the city on this issue has been simply deplorable.