Health and Safety
Earth Day – April 22, 2013
The 43rd anniversary of Earth Day is a good day to look at how we are relating to the planet and how we, as a country are managing our natural resources. We should also acknowledge that our lives are connected to the life of the planet. Its survival is our survival.
This fact seems to be lost on the federal government. Since last year, it's seen fit to remove environmental protections from thousands of lakes and waterways in the name of 'reducing red tape'. It will close the natural laboratory used to study – among other things – the impact of pollution on waterways. It continues to pour money and support into the extraction of the tar sands in Alberta despite a growning international concensus against it.
Not content to abandon its Kyoto Protocol commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Conservative government has now become the only country to leave the UN Convention on Drought and Desertification.
The solutions we seek will not be simple ones. They must balance protection of the environment with the needs of people to work and live. But we must seek those solutions.
We need to have leadership in this country that will develop a plan to take action on climate change, sustainably manage our natural resources and drastically reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
On April 22nd Canadians will join with people worldwide in staging events to address local environmental issues.
- PSAC members can also lead by example:
- use public transit for their commute
- organize a car pool
- ensure all family members recycle household waste such as plastic, glass, paper and aluminum,
…to name a few.
For other ideas on actions you can take to make progressive changes, please check out these websites:
Date Modified : 2013/04/19
