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Letter: Chelmsford resident thanks 'responsible' street sweeper

 'He spared me not just dust but possibly injury'
streetsweep666
Chelmsford's Carole Lavallée shares a few words of wisdom with Sudbury.com. (FIle)

Hats off to the man operating the street sweeper on Errington Street this morning.

I was in a hurry to get to my destination, so there was no turning around when I noticed the dusty street sweeping machine heading my way, but on the south side, the opposite side of the street I was occupying.

No worries, I thought. The wind is blowing south, so I will avoid most of the dust. Well, just as I got closer to the sweeper, the wind abruptly turned northward, sending a thick cloud of dust across the street right where I was walking. I had no choice to just turn my face and shoulders northward to protect myself from some of the dust. 

Thankfully a very conscientious gentleman was operating the machine: he stopped sweeping, saluted me, and waited for me to be out of the way. He spared me not just dust but possibly injury.

That’s it, I further thought. This person is doing his very best with responsibly cleaning the sidewalk and I am better for it. The municipality, the province, the country and the world as a whole, all are trying to do their best to clean up what is theirs to clean, whether we are talking about debris left over from the winter to pollution left over from burning fossil fuels. 

I feel grateful for the timely scientific reports we receive that keep us on our toes. I feel especially grateful for the businesses and all governments who adopt smart carbon pricing, the linchpin to get us moving away from the edge. We are so, so close to losing control over planet-wide changes.

As I heard this week on the Youtube video #wedonthavetime, “today we are determining a future we will not see; yet, we are the ones who get to decide.” Just like the street sweeper operator did, I trust we are capable of choosing responsibly to avoid not just inconvenience but irremediable damage.

Carole Lavallée
Chelmsford