Pine Lake History - 1990-1999

              R e c y c l e r e v e r e n d l e a d s f i g h t f o r E a r t h
By SIOBHAN ATKEY
Special to The Advocate
INNISFAIL — A local minister is
preaching the gospel of saving the planet.
Anglican pastor Rev. Michael Ston-house
spices his Sunday sermons with
messages about taking care of the Earth.
" One of the first commandments by God
is that we are here to care for the Earth.
That's basically our job description," Rev.
Stonhouse said.
And Rev. Stonhouse practices what he
preaches.
He is co- chairman of the town's new en­vironmental
group — the Green Team.
For 18 months he has worked with Con­cerned
Citizens of Pine Lake in their ef­forts
to find an alternative to a proposed
regional landfill. And Rev. Stonhouse was
an active contributor to Innisfail's 1990
toxic roundup, which had a threefold in­crease
in participation last year.
He has completed Alberta Special
Waste Management Corp.' s Our Backyard
study sessions and now sets up workshops
for interested local groups.
An extensive library of environmental
books, magazines and clippings fill his of­fice.
He came by his environmental concern
naturally, growing up on the family farm
near Pine Lake that he and his brother
took over two years ago, and in Southern
Alberta.
" I don't think it's possible to be a
farmer and not have an appreciation for
the environment," he says.
As a boy he searched for fossils near
Medicine Hat, where he spent the latter
half of his childhood, and hiked and
camped at Waterton.
These early experiences helped shape
Rev. Stonhouse spiritually.
He remembers, as an 11 year old, the
" nauseating side effects" that lasted for
days brought on by inhaling toxic fumes
leaked by a transport truck he and his
family followed on the highway.
Years later he witnessed how a mild
chemical poisoning caused a series of
physical symptoms. The victim was a
farmer who had completed the task of
spraying his crop.
" I couldn't help wondering that if it had
that impact on him, what were the chemi­cals
doing to the rest of the family, the
soil?"
Rev. Stonhouse says he questions " the
delayed impact of technology.
" We know now about the effects . . .
the atomic bomb. But it took years later to
see the cumulative effect," he contends.
" The posing question is how much else
has an cumulative effect? We have no
idea what we are doing."
With technological revolution came
rampant consumerism, waste and satu­rated
agriculture markets, he says.
" The question is, is there such a thing
as unlimited growth? Unlimited growth
promotes ( exploitation). It causes us to
treat the soil as a commodity."
The type of waste Rev. Stonhouse saw
at the Elnora dump years ago causes great
: oncern.
" I was disgusted, not only with the gar­bage,
but with the waste. There were so
- nany things that could have been recy-
: led. I knew we had to look for alterna­tes."
That means making " the local people
REV. MICHAEL STONHOUSE AND SON PHILIP, 3, OF INNISFAIL
. sort pressed tin cans destined ( or recycling Photo by JOHN BICKNELL
part of the solutions, involving them in
the decision making."
And he has seen this ideal achieved.
Apart from the prescribed commit­ments
of his chosen professions — nine
years as a reverend and three as a social
worker — he has dealt with the public ex­tensively
through a multitude of volun­teer
positions.
Recently he wrote a play for the Ten
Days for World Development committee
on the farm debt crisis. He has worked
with elderly, teenagers and women's
groups and addressed issues relating to
them.
The common thread is his humanitarian
concern. Becoming involved in the envi­ronment
was a natural progression.
" Colleen ( his wife) and I are both peo­ple
people. If they are hurting, we are
hurting. Our concerns for the environ­ment
is an extension of that. On one hand,
I recognize the human ability of getting
ourselves in a mess. On the other, we have
the ability to rise above it with a little)
help from the Boss ( Lord)."
At the local level there are many work
able solutions, he insists. In a notebook hel
has them neatly identified, from recycling]
programs to town policy.
For the ideal regional landfill, he sug-|
gests safeguards like: in site and perime­ter
monitoring, plastic line, a local moni­toring
group and an emergency response
number, full consultation and approval of]
local citizens.
" I'd like to see an environment agenda
— a common vision of where we would
like to be in five or 10 years. It starts with
living it, practicing at home, being
model," says the father of three.
" Recycling and composting are the easy
things. The bigger issues will mean a
change in lifestyle."
It may be a tall order, but Rev. Ston­house
says he is an eternal optimist.
Siobhan Atkey is a freelance Inniziail
writer.