Happy New Year Mother Earth

After contemplating all of the things that have occurred in the past year I decided to put together a top ten list of environmental facts that this column has covered in 2009 and some ideas that our local politicians can follow for 2010. Here it is:

10. The dikes on the marsh need to be rebuilt. This falls into the infrastructure category that both the federal and provincial governments are working on to help rebuild the economy. This is also a way to avert a disaster of severe flooding in the future.

9. Community Gardens - A community garden can be done anywhere there is a patch of soil and people wanting to get together and plant there own food. Community gardens are plots of land which are gardened by a group of people and they offer many benefits within the community. Community gardens provide access to fresh produce and plants as well as access to satisfying labour, neighborhood improvement, a sense of community and connection to the environment.

8. Financial Crisis vs. The Environmental Crisis - It is possible that we can overcome our economic and environmental challenges. The economic crisis is not separate from the resource crisis, which is not separate from the environmental crisis. We cannot consume our way out of the global economic crisis. Economic stimulus that aims to restart massive over consumption of the earth's resources is ultimately bound to fail, and cause more harm than good.

7. Swine Flu and climate change may be inextricably related. Both are the end results of unbridled economic growth and environmental degradation. The catastrophic impacts of climate change and unsustainable development can cause damage to human health. Climate Change may contribute to the accelerated occurrence of pandemics that may be attributed to global activities such as the economy, war and pollution.

6. Sustainable Development and a Sustainable Environment – According to author
Stephen Lewis who gave a lecture at Mount Allison in September, “there is the possibility of a catastrophic event between the years 2030 and 2050 which is unavoidable and will cause rising sea levels, environmental refugees, drought and the loss of food security everywhere”.

5. Global Warming - Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's surface. Global warming is real and it's affecting earth and everything on it. There are many reasons for this temperature rise, and big part of it is resulted from human activities. Things such as electricity that we use require burning of the fossil fuel. Another factor of global warming is the by- products of manufacturing and waste from the things we use and consume. This rising of temperature will give us hotter weather and strange weather patterns. This will, in turn decrease the living habitat for animals, increase the sea level that will cause many islands and shorelines to decrease in size, and will affect the growing of crops for consumption. We need to live smarter. We need to reduce reuse and recycle!

4. The Chignecto Game Sanctuary needs full wilderness protection. The Chignecto Game Sanctuary is more than a sanctuary for flora and fauna; it is also a sanctuary for people. The Chignecto Game Sanctuary is also the largest area of wilderness that remains in Cumberland County, but it is not being protected. Chignecto is home to old-growth forests, wild salmon rivers, and species at risk including the wood turtle, inner Bay of Fundy atlantic salmon, and the peregrine falcon. Wilderness protection means that the industrial activities such as mining and clear-cutting trees will have to stop within the borders of the newly protected area – not to keep people out. There should be a better balance between industry needs and what the forests and oceans can sustain. Jobs are certainly important but as with the fishing industry, clear-cutting poses as much harm to the forests as dragging the oceans for fish.

3. Climate Change - Climate change is real, and we are beginning to experience a gradual increase in its impacts. This might mean increasingly extreme weather (hot or cold), droughts, flooding on the marsh and in towns like Oxford, and erosion. Preparing for a changing climate poses particular challenges in Nova Scotia because most of our population lives along the coastline and much of our infrastructure is located in vulnerable areas; take the new waste water facility to be built on the marsh for example. Our schools must continue to educate about climate change, a cleaner environment, and sustainable prosperity, so future generations can better cope with these issues.

2. Copenhagen - Each country that attended the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December has been quick to point at that other countries will need to make big changes. USA is blaming China, China is blaming USA, everyone is blaming India and so on and so forth. Canada has been strongly criticized internationally for reneging on the Kyoto climate protocol and for refusing to sign on to a new deal limiting greenhouse gases unless developing nations are included. The Climate Change Conference wasn’t about forcing other countries to our will, it was about taking steps to protect our world and our future.

1. The use of our forests for biomass – You have got to be kidding me!!!

Lisa Emery, B.A. is currently living in Amherst. Lisa invites comments to her column. You can contact Lisa at: emeryvine@gmail.com or view her blog at http://emeryvinegrapevine.blogspot.com