International Earth Day
Description:
More than six million Canadians join 500 million activists from 180 other countries each year in organizing events that raise awareness about environmental issues. Almost every Canadian student takes part in the activities of this day.
Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has been a regular occasion to remind people of their responsibility to build a safer, healthier and cleaner world. While Earth Day is not a statutory public holiday in Canada, it is a great opportunity for millions of Canadians to reflect on what people can and should do to protect the environment and wildlife.
For several years, Canada, according to UNESCO, was the most favorable country for human habitation in the world. But Canada’s pollution rates are now beginning to exceed those of other industrialized countries. And this circumstance cannot but cause alarm: after all, being a circumpolar country, Canada is the first to feel all the “beauties” of climate change, as a result of “global warming”, provoked by harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
It is scientifically established that the constant burning of natural fuels and agricultural activities of people lead to the gradual melting of polar ice. In the most pessimistic version, the model of which was demonstrated by scientists, the melting of the ice shell of Greenland alone will lead to an increase in the level of the world ocean by 7 meters at once.
One of the world’s leading scientists in the field of sustainable development and ecology, a professor at the University of Vancouver in the Canadian province of British Columbia, the largest popularizer of science and winner of the UNESCO Prize David Suzuki, speaking as a TV presenter of the author’s program The Nature of Things created by him on Canadian television, said that Canadian environmental scientists have already done their part, and the turn is now for politicians.
In Suzuki’s view, Canada should review the cost side of the budget. “We do not hesitate to spend $16 billion a year on defense. What is the probability that we will go to war or that someone will attack us? It’s probably less than the 90% chance of climate change. And it's happening right now, David Suzuki said in particular. Instead of reducing emissions by 10 percent, he calls for 60 or 70 percent. These indicators, according to the scientist, should be in Canada by 2050. Suzuki calls for a change in behavior not only for the government, but for all citizens, and asks for more responsibility and understanding to create acceptable living conditions for future generations.
The Canadian government has not been deaf to the calls of scientists. Conservative Environment Minister John Baird, who attended the United Nations meteorological conference in Paris in early 2007, said it was “time for action”. Baird met in France with his colleagues from other countries to find out how Canada can catch up with them on reducing harmful emissions.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking at an April 2007 environmental conference in Montreal, said in a speech that Canada must become not just an energy superpower, but a clean energy superpower. I would like a fair and balanced approach to addressing energy shortages and environmental protection. He cited the latest clean fuel technologies currently being tested in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and said he hoped Canada would not only use such technologies but also export them to other countries, helping the world to significantly reduce the greenhouse effect.
The Government of Canada has committed to develop a plan of concrete and urgent measures to reduce the harmful emissions of industrial gases that pollute the atmosphere and lead to global warming.