Over 50 years after Joni Mitchell lamented the loss of green space in her hit song “Big Yellow Taxi”, some politicians remain hell bent on paving paradise. Will you join me in saying no to the expansion of Billy Bishop airport?

Welcome to the 161^st edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a quote of the week. Along with a petition to preserve the Toronto waterfront, this week’s edition looks at North America’s lack of progress on electric trains, the environmental impact of the World Cup, and preserving coastline using recycled glass.

On my mind this week: We can’t keep paving paradise

Over 50 years after Joni Mitchell lamented the loss of green space in her hit song “Big Yellow Taxi”, it seems we haven’t learned a thing.

Toronto’s beautiful Lake Ontario waterfront provides a vital respite from the steel and concrete jungle of Canada’s biggest city. Sadly, Toronto’s lakefront is under threat. Ontario Premier Doug Ford insists on pressing ahead with plans for an unnecessary expansion to Billy Bishop Airport.

Last summer, I was at Budweiser Stage in Toronto for a concert. I was dismayed to see the development on the site that used to be Ontario Place. I was dismayed, but not surprised. The Ford government has shown over and over that preserving nature and the environment is not a priority for them. And their recent changes to the freedom of information rules set the stage for more sneaky, underhanded deals under the guise of economic “progress”.

We have a voice and we need to use it. A couple of years ago, the ire of Ontario voters forced Ford to reverse plans to build luxury homes on part of our precious greenbelt. In recent weeks, he backed off on spending millions of taxpayer’s dollars on a private jet. Although he said the jet would be used for government business, I suspect it would have also made it very convenient for Ford to fly to and from his cottage.

Please sign the petition to stop Ford from paving paradise

In a world where we’re feeling the physical and mental health effects of being disconnected from nature, this government’s blatant disregard for the environment has to stop. It’s time for citizens to take action.

I’ve shared before that I’m a big fan of Neil Pasricha, author of The Book of Awesome. In fact, one of Neil’s blog posts inspired my quest to read 1,000 books. In a recent open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Pasricha implored the federal government to stop Doug Ford’s plans to expand Billy Bishop Airport. Neil’s tweet went viral reaching over 600,000 people—proof that many care about this issue. Pasricha followed that post up with a petition on Change.org that has garnered over 2,000 signatures.

Paving paradise to save Torontonians the few extra minutes it takes to get to Pearson Airport serves only a small segment of the population—those who prioritize convenience over common sense. On the other hand, the broader population will feel the health effects of increased noise and air pollution, and disruption of vital ecosystems. And all Ontarians will feel the pain of the loss of critical services as the government recklessly spends our tax dollars on another unnecessary project.

It’s clear we need to fight back. In a troubled world, people need places to connect with nature and savour the wonders of our planet. I urge you to read Neil’s blog post to learn more about this issue. Then, sign his petition at change.org. I’m proud to say I did.

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• On Monday morning, I saw about 12 Blue Jays feasting at our feeder. I’ve never seen that many in one place before.
• On Thursday, I visited my mum for lunch. I took some of my homemade chili and mini cheesecakes.
• Friday was the latest instalment of the ABC lunch series with my high school girlfriends. It was my turn to choose the venue so we went to Jack’s in St. Jacobs. As always, it was fun to catch up.

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

North America lags behind on rail electrification

New statistics show many countries have made significant progress on electrification of rail service. Switzerland leads the way with 100% of its rail network being electrified. Not far behind is India, where 90% is electrified.

Here in Canada where our rail service is pitiful compared to the rest of the world, just 0.2% of our rail network is electric. The United States doesn’t do much better with just 1% of trains running on electricity.

We need to do better.

(Source: Hannah Ritchie on Substack)

The environmental impact of the 2026 World Cup

North American soccer fans are excited to welcome the World Cup in the coming weeks, but FIFA’s decision to spread the tournament across 16 host cities in North America has a huge environmental impact. Experts expect the 2026 World Cup to generate more than double the average emissions of the four most recent tournaments. Unsurprisingly, 85% of the projected emissions from the 2026 World Cup will come from air travel as fans and teams travel long distances across the continent.

Interestingly, not all of the host cities have an equivalent impact. Vancouver led the way in a sustainability ranking that attempted to score the 16 host cities based on transit access, electric vehicle infrastructure, waste, air pollution, urban greening, and greenhouse gas emissions. Boston, Mexico City, Toronto and Monterrey round out the top 5.  

(Source: Earth911)

Recycling glass into sand preserves Louisiana’s coastline

Every 90 minutes, Louisiana loses about one football field’s worth of coastline to erosion. A company called Glass Half Full saw an opportunity to collect glass bottles destined for landfill and crush them into sand that’s used for coastal restoration.

The company processes more than 100,000 pounds of glass every month through residential pickup services and free drop-off locations.

(Source: Happy Eco News)

Quote of the week

This tiny speck of ecological paradise provides critical respite from our dense and urban concrete jungle and is vital for mental health, community, and happiness.

Neil Pasricha, about Toronto’s Lake Ontario waterfront

I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.