Hansard (Yukon)
April 22, 2010
TRIBUTES
In recognition of Earth Day
Hon. Mr. Edzerza: I rise today to pay tribute to Earth Day, which is observed on April 22 around the world. It has been 40 years since the very first Earth Day. The celebration of Mother Earth has spread to more than six million Canadians who join one billion people in over 170 countries in staging events and projects to address local environmental issues. Nearly every schoolchild in Canada takes part in an Earth Day activity.
Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson. During the 1960s, environmental issues were not even publicly considered. Senator Nelson was disturbed by this lack of concern and over many years he worked to bring the environment to the public and political conscience. In today’s world it is difficult to not hear about climate change and our impact on the environment but Earth Day brings this issue to the forefront of our attention and reminds us of our own responsibilities and what each individual can do to help reduce our impact on our environment.
Earth Day is about enacting our respect for Mother Earth, who is a provider. All of the two- and four-legged animals that walk on Mother Earth, all of those that fly in the sky, those that swim in the water, and all of those that live and crawl under the earth must be respected.
Earth Day reminds us of the importance of conservation of our planet’s limited resources. Each of us can help by using the three Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle. The Government of Yukon has taken action on climate change, which we know is affecting our environment. The government is now implementing the Climate Change Action Plan.
We are working to reduce government’s greenhouse gas emissions and help us to adapt our operations. The Yukon government is now implementing the Solid Waste Action Plan. The Yukon Liquor Corporation has just eliminated single-use bags. By having customers bring their own bags or purchase a reusable one, liquor stores will eliminate 12 metric tonnes of paper from the waste stream each year.
Earth Day is observed by schools, by municipalities and by environmental organizations. I thank them for their creative ways. They educate, inspire and help us address environmental issues as families and as communities. Earth Day reminds us all that we are each capable of positive change.
Mr. Speaker, a famous chief called Chief White Cloud wrote: “The Earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the Earth. This we know. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth, befalls the children of the Earth.”
I encourage all members to take positive action for the environment today and every day. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Elias: Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the Official Opposition to pay tribute to Earth Day on its 40th anniversary. April 22, Earth Day, is the most celebrated environmental event worldwide. The idea behind Earth Day is to honour the planet and all living things that inhabit it and to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment.
In the Yukon we are very fortunate to live in a part of the world that is, in large part, untouched by major development. It is easy for us to enjoy our territory’s wealth of waters, wildlife and untamed spaces, but with this gift comes a responsibility. With our wealth of natural areas, we have a responsibility to preserve some of them for future generations.
Many Yukoners have weighed in on what should happen in the Peel watershed, a vast area that is virtually untouched by human activity. The Peel planning commission has recommended significant environmental protection there, a view many Yukoners share. It is a view that my colleagues and I in the Liberal caucus share. It is a view shared by most of the governments that are parties to the plan.
When it comes to the land uses in the Peel River watershed, I would say my hope is that 100 years from now Yukoners, our neighbours, and international citizens will look back and view our decisions as visionary and that they are thankful and proud that we avoided the commodification of the arteries within the Peel River watershed as the first order of business. Believe me when I say, Mr. Speaker, that this is no ordinary or mundane tract of land by any stretch of the imagination. Many of our caucus members have taken the time out of their lives over the years to travel to the Peel area to view it and to absorb it for themselves.
The Yukon Liberals recognize the paramountcy of the wilderness values in the Peel River watershed and we support the principles within the draft plan. It’s a view that we hope will eventually be adopted by the Yukon government, which holds title to the land in the Peel and which has to date remained silent on this important environmental issue.
Closer to home for many Yukoners is McIntyre Creek, a vibrant wildlife corridor here in Whitehorse. Moose, coyotes, salmon and a range of other species occupy the creek. Students from elementary schools to the post-secondary college level explore the area and its ecological richness. Many families and recreational users, such as hikers, skiers, and bird watchers enjoy its beauty and its accessibility. This is another gift we should preserve for future generations. Like the Peel, many Yukoners believe it should be protected. Like the Peel, we hope to soon see the Yukon government commit to its preservation. As I said and as many Yukoners experience as part of their daily lives, we are blessed with the wealth of landscapes, untouched by human activity and richly populated with local wildlife.
Unfortunately here in the Yukon, we are also feeling some of the most profound effects of global warming. Believe me, I know this first-hand. It is incumbent upon us to be leaders in climate change prevention and mitigation within Canada and internationally. When opportunities arise to collaborate with our international colleagues, we must seize those opportunities. It is wrong to let the current federal Conservative government speak for us at events such as at Copenhagen.
We hope the Yukon government will soon recognize its responsibilities and take leadership in this role. The damage is obvious when you look at the Earth today and the frequency and ferocity of the tsunamis, the floods, the hurricanes, the tornados, drought, devastating earthquakes, wind, ice and snowstorms, extreme heat waves, mud slides, disappearing glaciers and ice caps and, more recently, volcanoes.
It is clear our Mother Earth is fighting back in a way that has not been recorded in human history. She’s trying to cleanse herself from the damage we’ve caused. As Yukoners, many of us receive our strength from our families, the mountains, our lands, the wildlife, our rivers and lakes and our clean air. Those are our monuments, Mr. Speaker. The effort to keep them all healthy is our heritage and legacy to future generations.
Every single living thing on this Earth expresses in its own way a willingness to live and a vitality to exist: the Arctic poppies that face and follow the sun daily during the summer months; fish that migrate thousands of miles to come and spawn and die in our great territory; birds that fly from thousands of miles to breed, moult and have their young. Larger mammals and predators flee to escape danger or stand and fight to protect their young, and we must respect that vitality to live. I want to be able to look my great-grandchildren in the eye and say that we made decisions now in our time so they did not inherit an impoverished world and that we did everything that needed to be done to heal the broken ties between people and the natural world.
Of course, Earth Day is not just an opportunity to identify the work that still needs to be done. It’s also an opportunity to acknowledge the work that is being done to reduce our environmental impact. We would like to recognize and thank all Yukoners who are responsible citizens and respectful of our environment and engage in environmentally friendly lifestyles and activities. We salute you all. We also want to thank our youth and the many schoolchildren and schools throughout the Yukon that take part in Earth Day events. With our young people reminding us to take care of the Earth, there is hope for the future. We must all do our part to protect our shared home for the next generation and for generations to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Hardy: I speak on behalf of the NDP caucus to honour Earth Day — a day to reflect on our relationship to our lonely planet, the only source of life found to date in the entire known universe, at least from our perspective.
One reflection is that the way we humans have managed our activities is extremely out of balance with the interest of our planet, its ecosystems and even ourselves ultimately. The question we need to ask is, 40 years ago was the first Earth Day and have we managed our time and activities well over 40 years? I think everybody can very easily say, no, we haven’t.
We have far more issues facing the planet, facing its very survival. It is clear we are stretching the capacity of the Earth to support us when we look at climate change, at species’ extinction and at the perilous state of our oceans. Scientists have said we must stave off an increase of two degrees Celsius in average global temperature to avoid the tipping point of catastrophic climate change. Will we do this? It is very hard to say.
The debacle that was Copenhagen, the pushing of trade agreements, the inability to move quickly to a low-carbon economy all suggest to many of us that we prefer to live in denial. Climate change is not an abstract concept. It already results in the death of over 300,000 people a year, mostly in the world’s poorest countries. About 325 million people are being seriously affected with economic losses averaging $125 billion a year, according to The Anatomy of A Silent Crisis, the first detailed look at climate change and human impacts.
This report was released last fall by the Global Humanitarian Forum based in Geneva. It was noted that: “These deaths and losses are not just from the rise in severe weather events but mainly from the gradual environmental degradation due to climate change.” Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations and president of the forum, writes the following in this report: “People everywhere deserve to have leaders who find the courage to achieve a solution to this crisis.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, our current federal government was recently accused of muzzling climate change researchers, slashing their funding and closing their research stations. The latest federal budget failed to provide any funding for Canada’s main climate science initiative, the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences. The foundation funds everything from global climate models to the melting of the polar icecap and the frequency of Arctic storms to droughts and water supplies. However, it will run out of money early this year and that is bad news, Mr. Speaker, but there is some hope; there is always hope; there needs to always be hope.
Today an international People’s Convention on Climate Change is taking place in Bolivia. The world’s people, tired of government inaction — governments all around the world — and their inability to recognize that our very survival is at stake here. The world’s people are coming together to demand that change.
Here in the Yukon, we, too, must demand real change. We, too, must demand action. We, too, must do whatever we can to protect our earth, its precious biosystems and all living things that depend on them. Our challenge, Mr. Speaker, is this: can we change? Will we change before change is forced on us? I believe we can; I believe we must for our future to be possible.
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