Character of Salt Spring Island:
Recreational or Industrial?

Salt Spring Island is a unique and spectacular place. 

We take pride in an active community, creative approaches to life and the arts, recreation, and growing healthy foods locally. We are surrounded by a marine environment that we cherish.

How will our lives feel once we are exposed to anchoring freighters and possibly tankers, as if refineries or heavy industry had been put down at our shores overnight?

The first freighters have arrived to stay at Chocolate Beach, Beddis Beach, Price Beach, and the North End of Ruckle Park. More are to come.

How will it feel to have noise pollution from massive generators... a rumbling constant noise - like an unwelcome visitor, day and night, following you around and talking to you wherever you go, whatever you wish to do?

How will it feel to live with the risk of polluted shores, and exposed to health risks by noise and air pollution... that may make you sick and shave off a few years of your life? Some residents near anchoring freighters say they are so desperate that they may have to move. Will people start to leave Salt Spring Island when more industrial anchorages will be the new reality?

We are proud to be a destination for visitors from all over the world... What will happen to tourism on the island? Will visitors come back if they find industrial sights and noises instead of an oasis, and instead they cannot relax outside or sleep at night?

This is not just about some anchoring ships. This is about an attempt of turning our islands into an industrialized corridor. We are not an industrial port. This is about losing our sense of place.

See Next: Tourism & Recreation: Uncertain Future

See Also:
Noise & Light Pollution  
Air Pollution  
Visions & Solutions