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"Earth Day provides an opportunity for each one of us to think about what we can do in our daily lives to reduce our impact on the planet," said James Clancy, NUPGE National President.
Ottawa (22 April 2013) – Today, April 22, is celebrated as Earth Day honouring the work people across Canada and around the globe are doing to protect our environment and improve conditions for future generations.These efforts are more important than ever as governments continue to soften envornmental legislation in favour of corporate growth and profits.
Earth Day Canada estimates that more than six million Canadians are active in Earth Day events. That is in addition to the one billion in over 170 countries staging events and projects to address local environmental issues.
In a message for this year's events, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, "International Mother Earth Day is a chance to reaffirm our collective responsibility to promote harmony with nature at a time when our planet is under threat from climate change, unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and other man-made problems. When we threaten the planet, we undermine our only home – and our future survival. On this International Day, let us renew our pledges to honour and respect Mother Earth."
Environmental legislation changes in Canada
In Canada especially, Earth Day takes on special significance as the Harper government continues to weaken environmental regulations that were in place to protect our country's land, air and waterways. In 2012, the Conservative Minister of Environment introduced legislation splintering the existing environmental review process. Under this legislation, federal reviews will now only be held for “major projects” and those of “national significance."
More recently, Conservatives changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA) now only covers seven lakes, 62 rivers and three oceans listed in the legislation. These waterways are the only ones where the environment assessment will be applied, leaving thousands of others at risk.
What we can do
"Earth Day provides an opportunity for each one of us to think about what we can do in our daily lives to reduce our impact on the planet," said James Clancy, NUPGE National President.
"Our individual actions can make a difference but they won't be enough. We also need to work collectively to challenge our governments - especially the Harper government - to take strong legislative action to protect our land, air and water and to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. That's how we can create a cleaner, healthier and safer future for everyone."
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE