Paul Kennedy's final CBC documentary follows Sudbury's transformation from the 'dirtiest place on the planet'

Paul Kennedy, the host of Ideas on CBC Radio, has been collecting voices for a documentary about Sudbury, set to air on Earth Day, April 22.

This is also Kennedy's last year with the CBC before retiring. He has hosted Ideas since 1999.

One of the reasons he chose Sudbury as the subject of his final project is because he was "astounded" by the number of young people who enjoy living in the city, but don't really understand what it used to look like.

"Their perception of it is, I would say, actually probably a good perception that they did not how bad it was," Kennedy said.

When Kennedy first passed through Sudbury in 1977—  he had only been in Sudbury once before arriving last fall—  it was an "amazing time," Kennedy said.

"It looked black. It was dark. Nothing grew as you drove into the city. It went from Muskoka in northern Muskoka which has all the lakes and the rocks and the trees...It was green and beautiful and it got less green and more black as I got into Sudbury."

Kennedy said it was "horrible," stopping for a short picture at the Big Nickel. He estimates he was out of the car for one minute, at the most.

"We left quickly as possible, westward, getting out of the place. I never wanted to come back, ever."

With his documentary on Sudbury's re-greening, Kennedy's career has come full circle, he said. He decided to work on the documentary after meeting John Gunn,  fisheries biologist and Canada Research Chair at Laurentian University.

"I met John and he talked about this great green city called Sudbury. And I said 'it's not real.' Do you work for PR?'"

But when he revisited the city he was more than excited.

"It had defeated what I thought was the insurmountable problem that we're all facing and that is environmental devastation," Kennedy said. "And it's been a theme...I've been on Ideas for 42 years and I didn't realize it was that much of a theme until I actually went back over some of the things I'd done."

"It's been a major interest in my life, a major concern and focus and this seemed to be the perfect way to finish, by saying 'you know what? I was wrong and there is hope that's amazing.'"

To hear the full interview with Paul Kennedy, click the audio link below.