Toyota factory turns landscape to arid wilderness

Chrome · Dec 10, 2006

The 'green-living' Toyota Prius has become the ultimate statement for those seeking to stress their commitment to the environment.

However, the environment-saving credentials of the cars are seriously undermined by the disclosure that one of the car's essential components is produced at a factory that has created devastation likened to the arid environment of the moon.

So many plants and trees around the factory at Sudbury in Ontario, Canada, have died that astronauts from Nasa practised driving moon buggies on the outskirts of the city because it was considered the closest thing on earth to the rocky lunar landscape.

Unlike normal cars, hybrids such as the Prius, whose proud owners include Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and ex-Tory leader Michael Howard, are powered by a battery that contains nickel - as well as a traditional petrol engine.

Toyota gets the metal from a Canadian company whose smelting facility at Sudbury has spewed sulphur dioxide into the air for more than a century.

The car giant buys about 1,000 tons a year from the plant, which is owned by Inco, one of the world's largest nickel-mining companies.

Fumes emerging from the factory are so poisonous that they have destroyed vegetation in the surrounding countryside, turning the once-beautiful landscape into the bare, rocky terrain astronauts might expect to find in outer space.

Although efforts have been made in recent years to reduce emissions from the plant's 1,250ft chimney - dubbed the Superstack - campaigners say the factory is still respon-sible for some of the worst pollution in North America.

David Martin, energy co-ordinator of Greenpeace Canada, said: "The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside.
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I didn't see this was already posted elsewhere.

While it's important to realize that Toyota's demand DOES contribute to the pollution, it's only a modest percentage of that factory's total output. And the title makes it seem like it's Toyota's factory, but the article clearly states that it is not.

DaveinOlyWA · Dec 10, 2006

ok... so what yer saying is because the Prius has been built for about 7 years, a nickel plant that has been operating for over 100 years is the sole result of the aforementioned vehicle???

ya...right...well will say the spin on this article is definitely making someone dizzy.... what, may i ask, is the vehicle you drive?

johnths2 · Mar 12, 2008

Toyota buys 0,5% of the total production of this facility.
The rest is both by other industries.
What is the problem?

JimboK · Mar 12, 2008

Aw, c'mon, this story's been floating around too long and has been refuted convincingly enough already. Please use the site's search function before posting stuff like this.

TonyPSchaefer · Mar 12, 2008

True enough. This item's been kicked around for quite a while.

I'm hereby closing this thread.

:closed_2:

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Toyota factory turns landscape to arid wilderness

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