When the battle over the Melancthon mega quarry first came to light in early 2011, there didn’t seem much doubt about the outcome. On one side was a $25-billion Boston hedge fund and an international PR firm. On the other, a motley crew of concerned Ontario farmers. It was hard to imagine the U.S.-backed Highland Companies failing to get what it wanted: a massive limestone mine in the fertile farmland 100 km northwest of Toronto.

Yet last week the hedge fund conceded defeat to the amateur activists – an upset of David-and-Goliath proportions that holds at least three important lessons for environmentalists:

1.Tell a simple story

From the start, opposition to the mega quarry was based not just on the environmental impact of the proposed project, but also on the oft-repeated story of a then-nameless company, backed by a multi-billion-dollar hedge-fund, buying up swaths of farmland near Orangeville under the pretense of building a potato farm.

In fact, as we now know, the plan was to dig up more than 2,300 acres of bountiful farmland – and, incidentally, permanently impede the source waters of five pristine rivers – to build the largest open-pit mine in Canadian history. The project’s opponents understood that this story, simply told, made the mega quarry seem sinister and its opponents like helpless victims.

2. Form a diverse coalition

Had the quarry’s opponents been limited to the initial group of locals and farmers, the outcome likely would have been different. Instead, they quickly recruited native bands in the area, environmentalists across the country – including David Suzuki – and perhaps most decisively, the growing subculture of Toronto foodies and their celebrity chef leaders.

In this way, the movement broadened into a political force that couldn’t be ignored, eventually prompting the provincial government to launch an extensive environmental review of the project that may have been the last straw for Highland Companies.

3.Transcend NIMBYism

The movement’s key strength may have been its ability to explain to those not immediately affected by the project why they ought to care. The quarry’s opponents did that by hitching their cause to the thriving local food movement. Most Torontonians would never have directly experienced the environmental devastation wrought by the quarry, but the prospect of losing the source of so much delectable local produce, including nearly half of the city’s potato stock, was too steep a cost for many to accept.

With simple messaging, a broad coalition and a little political imagination, the opponents of the mega quarry beat the odds. Environmentalists take note.

"The Star" Editorial, Published Nov. 25, 2012

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1292791--mega-quarry-defeat-is-a-lesson-in-activism