Fear of the unknown No doubt this has happened to people who have had the opportunit y to travel awa y fro m our little corner of the world. You are in the m idst of a huge cit y , tee m - ing with strange, fascinating and beautiful people. You are taking in unfa m iliar and scintillating sights, sounds, s m ells, sensa- tions, while tr y ing to co m prehend a co m - plex subwa y , bus and streetcar network. On a crowded sidewalk, y ou are ap- proached b y a creature who has all the
seeing the solar panels up close, few of us knew m uch about pol y cr y stalline photo- voltaic m odules. These panels appear to be fairl y innocu- ous and, after all, the y do represent bright new green opportunities. However, as critics often insist, we reall y have no wa y of knowing the long-ter m i m pacts such installations will have on us and our planet. But, that caveat applies to al m ost ever y - thing, eh? For exa m ple, let us sa y that we heeded ever y health warning and swallowed ev- er y flavour-of-the-week “super food.” We would likel y be altering our diets on a dail y basis because, let’s see, toda y cof- fee will kill y ou and to m orrow coffee will save y ou. And, what if we did all live longer and healthier lives? We have no wa y of pre- dicting what the world would be like if the planet were populated b y m illions of 130- y ear-old people hogging tennis courts and skateboard ra m ps. And i m ag- ine the nu m ber of silver-haired drivers crawling along highwa y s, with the left- hand signal indicator perpetuall y acti- vated. There are so m e issues that will be dis- cussed for eons to co m e. Ever y co mm unit y fro m ti m e to ti m e fac- es a proposal that sparks the “Not In M y Back y ard” s y ndro m e. Re m e m ber that m ega pig far m s were once the cause of m uch public consterna- tion. Nobod y would want to live beside a long series of pork operations, because the y , like m an y for m s of agriculture, create unpleasant odours. But an inva- sion of “hog factories” in eastern Ontario never ca m e to be and so m ehow life has m anaged to go on, despite the erection of large-scale pig facilities across the re- gion. Here again, do we have reason to be afraid of intensive agriculture? Knowledge is power, so before for m ing an opinion we m ust explore all facets of ever y issue in a cold, objective fashion, basing an y conclusion on hard facts. Ha, ha, just kidding. We do not live in research labs, folks. If y ou breathe, y ou have views, thoughts, conceptions and m isconceptions about ever y thing. The best we can hope for is that we do our best to arrive at that elusive “infor m ed position.”This approach does not guaran- tee y ou will prevail; it onl y m eans y ou will look educated while y ou are engaged in a debate. So, Vankleek Hill m a y be getting a treat- m ent centre for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. What do y ou think of that? The people behind the plan to set up an addiction treat m ent centre in the for m er convent are m oving slowl y . At a recent Cha m plain Township coun- cil m eeting, Daniel Cha m pagne, of La Fondation ange gardien, and planner Pierre Mercier assured nervous residents no for m al application for a required zon- ing change would be m ade until citizens were full y infor m ed of the plan. Alread y people have spoken out about the idea. An open house is scheduled to be held later this m onth to provide m ore details. Chances are that infor m ation will not change an y one’s preconceived ideas about this particular notion. But, as i m pro m ptu encounters on a bus y street have shown, y ou can never judge a book b y its cover.
trappings of a ho m eless person, e m itting unfa m iliar sounds and odours. Self-preservation senses tingle. Let’s see... do y ou offer hi m m one y , avoid e y e contact, gird so m ething valuable? Do y ou put on y our best Ottawa Valle y accent and ask the lad where the livestock barn is? But before y ou even have a chance to be- co m e apprehensive, the stranger flashes a s m ile.
“You look lost,” points out the toothless m an who then proceeds to guide the con- fused tourists in the right direction. After exchanging the m andator y “Have a good da y ,” we go along our m err y wa y . Now wasn’t that nice? We m et a real ho m eless person, and lived to recount our anecdote. However, nobod y is so innocent as to believe that ever y brief urban encounter with a stranger has a happ y ending. There are so m e m ean ani m als lurking in an y concrete jungle. We m ust be vigilant, but we do not have to m ake ourselves sick worr y ing about the worst possible scenario, either. Fictional fear m erchants, such as Ed- gar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock, are successful because, in m ost cases, the audiences scare the m selves. Masters of suspense understand that the unseen is m ore frightening than the obvious. In the real world, fear of the unknown is a m ajor cause of stress; it is also an effec- tive lobb y ing tool and a proven political strateg y . “There goes the neighbourhood and m a y be the entire concession.” You are bound to hear such warnings whenever a new idea surfaces, particular- l y when the idea involves a new land use or a zoning a m end m ent, or an alternate vocation for an existing structure. Take for instance the long period of angst preceding the opening of the Star- dale Solar Far m near St-Eugène. At the official opening of 160-acre In- nergex Renewable Energ y solar energ y installation, the at m osphere was sunn y and bright. Of course, the at m osphere had been negativel y charged for the y ears leading up to the co m pletion of the facil- it y on about 300 acres of far m land. Apart fro m the loss of arable terrain, so m e of the concerns expressed b y oppo- nents were excessive noise, stra y voltage that would shock dair y cattle, and glare fro m panels that would cause pilots to crash airliners. To date, none of those fears has m ateri- alized, as far as we know. As East Hawkesbur y Ma y or Robert Kirb y noted during the inauguration, prior to
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