Sudbury peatland restoration from metal pollution

Sudbury peatland restoration from metal pollution Professor Pete Whittington discusses efforts to restore metal-contaminated peatlands in Sudbury, Ontario, which were heavily affected by mining since the 1880s.Nickel and copper mining began in Sudbury, Ontario (approximately 400km north of Toronto, Canada) in the 1880s, resulting in enormous atmospheric emissions of sulphur and metal particulates that acidified thousands of lakes and destroyed vast areas of vegetation cover in and around the city. In the early 1960s, Sudbury’s smelters represented the largest point source of sulphur dioxide in the world, accounting for 4% of global emissions. Along with the SO2, tens of thousands of metric tons of potentially toxic elements, such as copper, nickel, and arsenic, were also emitted. The resulting barren landscape was an environmental crisis. In the 1970s and 1980s, changes to legislation and advancements in industrial technologies significantly reduced air pollution in Sudbury, resulting in a 98% reduction achieved to date.