You may publish my comment…

You may publish my comment.

Re: Development of the Green Belt

Developers and Mr Ford see land that is used for agriculture or left in the natural forested state as open, empty land. This is unfortunate. Undeveloped land is a huge sink for surface water generated by by heavy rain or snow melt. Undeveloped land is able to absorb surface water and hold it for plant growth or ground water replenishment. There is a need to preserve productive agricultural land in southern Ontario. We are realizing that the supply of vegetables shipped from SW US is not as reliable a source as once was thought. Already too much prime agricultural lands as been swallowed up by Toronto and its suburbs. We must not lose any more. Ontario's effort to become more self sufficient in food production agriculture must not be trumped by the so called need for more development. It is impossibly naïve to suggest that removing this land from it's natural state or agricultural use will not have consequences.

The world including Canada is slowly acknowledging that we are in a climate crisis of our own making. Concreting over green space and destroying the preexisting natural systems ecosystems are a huge contributor to this. Grass, trees and all manner of plants consume CO2 and equally important produce oxygen. Their root systems are critical for holding the soil and preventing erosion after surface flooding. It is unfortunate that the importance of plant growth, any plant growth is barely mentioned as being essential for combating climate change and CO2 production.

It is for these reasons that the green belt was created and must remain so untouched by development.