Peace Wrecked by Noisy Recreation

What do Pickleball and Curling in HRM have in common?

The noise generated in some facilities required for these sports has negatively affected the life of neighbours. An article by Glenn MacDonald on the Chronicle Herald page of the Saltwire.com website explains how noise complaints have forced closure of  some Halifax pickleball courts. 

Noise and Neighbours

The sound of loud, plastic balls being hit by solid paddles proved to be too much for residents of a four-storey, multi-unit building just 10 metres away. The two tennis courts, which were converted to three dedicated pickleball courts and one that serves both tennis and pickleball in 2019, are also very close to other surrounding apartment complexes and single-family homes. (MacDonald, 2025)

In March of 2023, CBC Information Morning aired a piece by Erin MacInnis about a Halifax couple seeking a reprieve from noise generated by their neighbour, the Halifax Curling Club. The CBC Website describes the Program Segment. 

As winter sports begin to wrap up for the season, a Halifax couple is looking forward to an annual reprieve from their noisy neighbour. Nancy Shea and her husband Richard live next door to the Halifax Curling Club, they're currently in the process of suing the club over constant noise and other emissions. The CBC's Erin MacInnis brings us the story.

Aired: March 17, 2023 (Information Morning - NS With Portia Clark | Live Radio, n.d.)

The Ponder Patterns article Noise over noise  concludes that achieving measurable reduction of noise levels by using mitigation technology or removal of noise sources from neighbourhoods will improve the quality of life for beleaguered residents and address a long standing issue in municipal government.

References

MacDonald, G. (2025, January 15). Noise complaints force closure of Halifax pickleball courts. Saltwire. Retrieved January 18, 2025, from https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/halifax/noise-complaints-force-closure-of-halifax-pickleball-courts

Health Homes and Climate

The relationships between health services, housing needs, and the climate crisis are many. The tension between market based action and government control in these areas compels us to carefully analyze trends and progress.

Health and Housing in Climate Crisis

The Ottawa Citizen reports on privatization of orthopedic surgery that may be impacting staffing for hospital health care. Elizabeth Payne reports:

“We are not able to provide the service we want for oncology patients because nurses are working in a higher paid environment,” said the unnamed source. “My view is that this is confirming the concerns that we are limited in terms of the service we can provide in the public system because nurses are obviously being poached by this private clinic.” (Payne, 2023)

Nicole Munro, at Saltwire, contributes an article on West End Mall redevelopment in Halifax.

By the time the master plan is finished, Coun. Shawn Cleary (Halifax West Armdale) said, the inclusionary zoning bylaw should be in place at about the same time, giving HRM the power to ensure there is a percentage of affordable units included.

While Cleary suspects most of the units will be market-based rents, he said the inclusionary zoning bylaw would allow some affordable units.

“We’ll have the power to actually say, ‘No, no, you don’t have a choice. You’re going to have this per cent of those units that have to be affordable.’” (Halifax's West End Mall Redevelopment Will Go on Despite Pushback, Councillor Says, 2023)

Matt McGrath, environment correspondent for BBC News, contributes an article about fossil fuel emissions falling in worldwide electricity generation.

One significant player impacting the overall trend is China. Around 50% of the global addition of wind power came from China and about 40% of the world's new solar came from from the country that's also the world's biggest use of coal power.

"There is a chance that at the rate that China is building wind and solar and all types of clean generation, that they achieve that peak in coal generation earlier than 2025, which would be significant," said Mr Jones.

Energy experts acknowledge that curbing fossil fuels in power generation could well be a "turning point", but much more remains to be done. (McGrath, 2023)

We monitor important trends as we ponder the best economic approach to address these serious concerns that impact the common good.

References

Halifax's West End Mall redevelopment will go on despite pushback, councillor says. (2023, April 12). SaltWire. Retrieved April 14, 2023, from https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/business/halifaxs-west-end-mall-redevelopment-will-go-on-despite-pushback-councillor-says-100843479/ 

McGrath, M. (2023, April 11). Climate change: Fossil fuel emissions from electricity set to fall - report. BBC. Retrieved April 14, 2023, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65240094 

Payne, E. (2023, March 21). Surgeries at for-profit orthopedic clinic already impacting hospital staffing, some insiders say. Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved April 14, 2023, from https://ottawacitizen.com/news/surgeries-at-for-profit-orthopedic-clinic-already-impacting-hospital-staffing-some-insiders-say 

Church will need to respond to Climate Emergency

How should the Church respond to a declaration of a climate emergency?

Coastal Erosion in Nova Scotia

This curation of articles indicates that a response may soon be expected from Church leadership. The Green Christian group urges the UK to join more than 400 local authorities and declare a climate emergency.

 More than 400 local authorities worldwide have declared a Climate Emergency, pledging to take decisive action to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions and engage citizens to do likewise. In the UK nearly 300 arts and cultural institutions and individuals have joined nearly 70 local authorities in doing so. Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn is seeking a Commons debate on the matter this week.
Green Christian is calling on the national governing bodies of Churches and denominations to use their moral leadership and spiritual insight to help mobilise change. A declaration of emergency can act as a catalyst for rapid, focused, co-ordinated and equitable action across society, and help individuals make sacrificial choices which reach well beyond the incremental change achieved so far 1

Climate Mobilization calls for the rapid and just transformation of the physical economy and society at large, delivering an integrated package of solutions for a regenerative, zero emissions and safe-climate economy, geared toward reversing global warming and the 6th mass extinction of species as rapidly as possible.

The U.S. must launch a Climate Mobilization at emergency speed, on a scale not seen since the mobilization leading up to and during World War II.2 

Henry Nicholls of REUTERS reports that after protests, Britain's parliament declares climate change 'emergency' by backing a call by opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for “rapid and dramatic action” to protect the environment for generations to come.

The measure was passed as an opposition motion, using a procedure typically ignored by the ruling party, and has no direct consequences for policy.
But it is a nod to an increasing vocal activist movement particularly among young people in Europe, who have staged school strikes and civil disobedience campaigns to demand action.
Eleven days of protests by the Extinction Rebellion activist group caused major disruptions in central London in recent weeks, and Swedish schoolgirl campaigner Greta Thunberg addressed lawmakers on a high profile visit.3 

Andrea Gunn reports that Canada could be the next country to declare a climate emergency if a government motion tabled Thursday passes. The Feds are poised to declare a national climate emergency.

 Following countries like the U.K. and Ireland, as well as municipalities like Halifax, a motion tabled by environment minister Catherine McKenna is calling on the government of Canada to declare that Canada is in a national climate emergency, and to go above and beyond its Paris Agreement obligations by pursuing efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
On Wednesday, following McKenna’s announced intentions to table the motion, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh tabled their own climate emergency motion that was defeated in a vote Thursday afternoon. The NDP motion contained similar language surrounding the Paris Agreement and keeping climate change below 1.5 degrees, but also included additional points calling on the government to prioritize reconciliation with Indigenous people and ensuring workers don't get left behind when implementing its climate change strategy. The NDP bill also called for immediately ending all fossil fuel subsidies and axing the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
Emma Norton with the Halifax-based Ecology Action centre said while the motions are meaningful, actions are key.
“It’s very exciting to see two motions put forward in one week to address the fact that we’re in a climate emergency,” she said. “But these declarations do not change policy.”
Norton signalling Canadians and to the international community that climate change is a priority is only meaningful if there are corresponding measures that enact the change necessary to mitigate that emergency and hold the federal government accountable to its climate change goals.4

Kady O'Malley reports on May 14, 2019 that Competing ‘climate emergency’ motions are set to hit the House this week.

Last week, the government served notice that it intended to put forward a motion that would allow the House “to debate the rising climate emergency across Canada,” which was dutifully filed by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna on Monday.
If passed, it would have the House formally declare that Canada “is in a national climate emergency which requires, as a response, that Canada commit to meeting its national emissions target under the Paris Agreement and to making deeper reductions in line with the … objective of holding global warming below two degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.”5 

Margaret Bullitt-Jonas reports that U.S. religious leaders including Dr. Richard W. Miller, Professor of Philosophical Theology and Sustainability Studies, Creighton University, and inventor and tech business entrepreneur David W. Carroll, author a report entitled “Religious Declaration of Unprecedented Human Emergency”.

 The third lead author of the Religious Declaration, inventor and tech business entrepreneur David W. Carroll, asserted: “There is no moment more critical for all-out personal and cooperative action.In my view, the Religious Declaration of Unprecedented Human Emergency successfully avoids both risks. It presents a menu of effective solutions. And it also lifts up the need to tackle both the ecological and the economic crises. As Pope Francis stated in his encyclical, Laudato Si’, we need to hear both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor – neither one can be adequately addressed alone.
That is why Religious Declaration supports “the bold direction of the Green New Deal, or other similar science-based proposals, as an opportunity for this country to commit to stabilizing the climate while creating ‘unprecedented levels of prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States.’ This specifically includes low-income communities, communities of color, and those that have historically been marginalized or underserved. The Green New Deal is the first resolution that addresses the climate crisis with the urgency, focus, and comprehensiveness that the situation requires. Our nation mobilized every part of society during World War II and the Great Depression. Like the Greatest Generation, we must rise to the occasion and commit to doing what science says it takes to avoid irreversible catastrophic climate chaos and make a rapid and just transition to a clean energy economy.”6

Emma Norton with the Halifax-based Ecology Action centre is quoted noting that while the motions are meaningful, actions are key.

The Church in Canada, through national bodies like the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and locally from the episcopal leadership, will be expected to address the action required by members of the Church in response to these emergency declarations.

References

1	(2019, May 7). CHURCHES URGED TO DECLARE A CLIMATE EMERGENCY .... Retrieved May 15, 2019, from https://greenchristian.org.uk/churches-urged-to-declare-a-climate-emergency/
2	(n.d.). The Climate Mobilization. Retrieved May 15, 2019, from https://www.theclimatemobilization.org/
3	(2019, May 1). After protests, Britain's parliament declares climate change - Reuters. Retrieved May 15, 2019, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-climatechange-parliament/after-protests-britains-parliament-declares-climate-change-emergency-idUSKCN1S74OA
4	(2019, May 16). Feds poised to declare national climate emergency | Regional | News .... Retrieved May 16, 2019, from https://www.capebretonpost.com/news/feds-poised-to-declare-national-climate-emergency-312642/
5	(2019, May 14). Competing 'climate emergency' motions set to hit the House this week .... Retrieved May 16, 2019, from https://ipolitics.ca/2019/05/14/competing-climate-emergency-motions-set-to-hit-the-house-this-week/
6	(2019, May 9). Emerging Earth Community | News | U.S. religious leaders issue .... Retrieved May 16, 2019, from http://www.emergingearthcommunity.org/innerfeed?source_site=fore&page_title=U.S.+religious+leaders+issue+%E2%80%9CReligious+Declaration+of+Unprecedented+Human+Emergency%E2%80%9D&article_id=0&feed_type=news&news_url=news/item/u.s.-religious-leaders-issue-religious-declaration-of-unprecedented/