Environment Sustainability: Why Politics Need to Be Involved

Essay by jen_spoonUniversity, Bachelor'sB+, January 2010

download word file, 12 pages 3.0

IntroductionIn 2007, a study showed that for the first time ever Canadians had put the environment on the top of their list of concerns, surpassing health care concerns (Citynews.ca, 2007). These concerns are shared throughout the globe as we witness increasing extreme weather disasters and the melting of the polar cap. These concerns materializing in hot summer days when Canadians living in large cities are ask to refrain from doing extraneous physical activity due to poor air quality. All this resulting in an estimated 5,900 deaths per year in major cities attributed to air pollution according to a Health Canada study (Environment Canada, 2009a).

While Canadians' health is at risk, so is their security and safety. While air pollution and lack of environmental effort contribute to global warming we are seeing the effects in the Canadian Arctic. Areas of the north that were once ice covered year round are seeing that ice regress more and more every summer.

This opens shipping to freighting companies which goes right through the heart of Canada, the Northwest Passage. With ice receding, Canada's north is starting go from inhospitable land to desired real estate.

Unfortunately Canada has avoided tackling the issue of pollution and global warming by ignoring the Kyoto Protocol. Band-aid solution have been proposed by the government but it as been reluctant to put the financial commitment that is required to solve the issue and bring Canada to the forefront of environment sustainability. This reluctance fuelled by a desire to retain power, since solving global warming will require money that will ultimately come from the pockets of Canadians.

The objective of this paper is to identify current problems in Canadian politics when it comes to environment sustainability, by identifying the mishaps that have occurred in the past and where the Canadian government.