Greening Ontario electricity ... the true story

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With all respect to rural/exurb living, converting agricultural land or forests to 1-2 acre exurb lots is terrible for the environment.
A landscape chopped up into small personal plots is much less sustainable than a continuous countryside dotted with village clusters that could (theoretically) be served by bus and by a health centre.
Most people only actually want/are able to live on their exurb acreage for a few years; after the kids are grown, before physical decline.

An agricultural or forest landscape dotted with windmills is more appealing to me than the endless exurb sprawl that has claimed the land between Toronto & Waterloo (and, yes, I own land in the country that I chose to leave agricultural/forest, rather than living on it).
 
dougstove said:
after the kids are grown, before physical decline.
Click to expand...
How old are you dougstove? Just trying to figure out where that viewpoint is coming from ... personal experience or just a guess? Most of the farms I've encountered are multi-generational with parents continuing to work the farm into their 70-80s. Even with physical decline, the wealth of knowledge the elders have acquired through their lifetime is immense. My Great Uncle "retired" to farm (for northern markets) in Florida in his 70s...

The Meyers family farm north of Trenton ... 225 years old and held by the descendants the whole time ... expropriated.
“I want to see my boys on this farm, helping their grandpa and uncle the same as my dad did long ago—to touch history with their very own hands by working the same soil their sixth great grandfather did.”

Frank’s son, who shares the captain’s name, has worked alongside his father, milking cows and planting cash crops, since he was 13. “It is not a job but a way of life,” John Meyers said, reading from his own prepared statement. “Farmers are not taught in school. They do not come from the city. Farmers come from farm families. Expropriating this property will end the farm in this family. The heritage and pride that comes from running this farm will fade away.”
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/a-farmers-final-stand/
 
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Since the title of this thread is "Greening Ontario electricity," and the discussion has turned a bit into landscape impacts, I'm not sure which of these is the worst of two evils from a "green" perspective" 1) breaking up large tracts of ag land for exurb lots or 2) large tract industrial ag land which thrives on chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides to grow GMO food. Both end up with a near biological desert that is nearly devoid of wildlife, habitat, and protection of water and soil resources. I suppose they both are "green" because they look green, but it seems they both are environmental disasters.
 
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With 6 million in the Greater Toronto Area, is it surprising there is urban sprawl? Toronto is the 4th largest city in North America... NYC, LA, Mexico City and Toronto. The Golden Horseshoe is even worse ... 8,759,312 as of 2011.

Edit: Ontario is still the province with the most farms...
 
By the time you add delivery charges, taxes. and all the little things that Ontario Hydro pays for, my hydro rate is about $.21/kwh. This from a company that pays people eighty cents per kwh to produce solar energy, and guarantees that rate for 20 years. We also sell our hydro out of province for less than half of what they charge me per kwh and build windmills that are often standing still during the peak hours.
We fired the CEO of hydro One a few years back but are now paying her over $1000/DAY, seven days/ week, for the rest of her life!!! (she went to court over this and won)
 
Pat32rf said:
We fired the CEO of hydro One a few years back but are now paying her over $1000/DAY, seven days/ week, for the rest of her life!!! (she went to court over this and won)
Click to expand...

Man, that's a golden parachute I'd like to have. I believe that is better than we pay our senators. We are talking Canadian dollars though.
 
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