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Abstract: In October 2004, Nelson Aggregate submitted an application to expand Mount Nemo's Burlington Quarry operations. Local singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer led initiatives to protect the region, using her musical platform as a vehicle for environmental advocacy. This essay examines Harmer's activist campaign within the broader geographic and geologic contexts of the public debate that unfolded throughout the region. More specifically, it interrogates how her music and musical practice articulate a strong sense of regional identity and connection to local environmental issues, while also envoicing the symbiotic relationship between human and natural life cycles.
Résumé : En octobre 2004, Nelson Aggregate a soumis une demande visant à étendre les activités d'extraction sur des propriétés adjacentes de la carrière Burlington de Mount Nemo. La chanteuse-compositrice locale Sarah Harmer a mené des initiatives pour protéger la région, en utilisant sa tribune musicale et ses chansons comme véhicule de défense de l'environnement. Cet essai examine la campagne de l'activiste de Harmer dans les contextes géographiques et géologiques plus vastes du débat public qui s'est déroulé dans toute la région. Plus précisément, il interroge comment sa musique et sa pratique musicale articulent un fort sentiment d'identité régionale et de connexion aux problèmes environnementaux locaux, tout en considérant la relation symbiotique entre les cycles humains et les cycles de vie naturels.
In October 2004, Nelson Aggregate Co. submitted an application for a 200-acre limestone quarry operation for below-water-table extraction on Mount Nemo plateau in the middle of the Niagara Escarpment in southwest Ontario.1 Nelson Aggregate's application sought to expand the existing Burlington Quarry site in order to extend the operation's lifecycle by 20 years. Local residents responded immediately to oppose Nelson's proposed expansion, having already lived with numerous disturbances and pollution issues for more than half a century. Local singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer played a significant role in mobilizing the local campaign against Nelson's expansion application. Focusing her efforts on the environmental, ecological, and social issues that have been at the core of this debate since the 1950s, Harmer used her musical platform as a vehicle for environmental protest. In addition to co-founding a not-for-profit organization to centralize local campaign efforts (PERL 2012), she actively participated in public debate, and challenged provincial government by spotlighting unethical behaviour in newspaper opinion pieces...