I read with amazement a recent column by Colin Mayes.
I believed there may still be some individuals who continue to deny climate change, but never suspected one of those people to be our MP.
I think it is useful to provide another perspective on how government might tackle environmental issues, an approach that is urgently needed. The NDP have a robust environmental policy plan consisting of 42 meaningful and practical strategies addressing water, climate change, food security, ecosystem protection, sustainability, green leadership, and energy. These are but a sampling of the ideas coming from the NDP:
1. Reducing and eliminating highly toxic substances, especially those threatening life and habitat.
2. Protecting our supplies of fresh water by excluding it from all international trade agreements, privatization and deregulation.
3. Investing in research and development to create new sources of alternative energy and develop incentives to encourage their use.
4. Establishing a major research and development fund for green technologies.
5. Adhering to international agreements to reverse climate change, including those with binding regulations.
I share these examples to demonstrate that there are viable steps that can be enacted by federal politicians that keep our economy and our environment as top priorities simultaneously.
These are reasonable and achievable goals if you have the temerity to set your long-range vision accordingly. To do otherwise is completely lacking in leadership as well as an abandoning of evidence-based decision making. See davidsuzuki.org for an extensive listing of evidence regarding our climate situation. 2015 can not come soon enough at least where the environment is concerned. And it is an enormous concern.
Jacqui Gingras
