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Greening the Nation

On Saturday, people from across Canada gathered on Parliament Hill for the International Day of Climate Action. The group called on the federal government to push for a sustainable agenda at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. Despite protests, Environment Minister Jim Prentice is pushing for less aggressive emission reduction targets for Canada, citing Canada’s faster-growing population and energy-intensive industrial structure.

Prentice’s excuses are a cop-out. At the rate we are going our country’s resources will not last forever. Therefore, we should be working towards preserving them as opposed to justifying burning through them faster.

Instead of reinvesting in the same out-of-date, carbon-emitting technologies our nation’s largest industries — such as logging and oil refineries — have grown accustomed to, Canadians should instead consider putting our money towards greener or alternative resources. The technology is available and is starting to catch on — take wind turbines for example — but we could be doing more to ensure our earth will continue to sustain us in the future, such as taking a firmer stance in Copenhagen.

We are facing tough economic times, and the argument could be made the environment shouldn’t take precedent over the more urgent issue of the economy. There’s no doubt the government needs to be working towards getting our country back on financial track as quickly as possible, but it’s also not a good idea to overlook what may become a crisis in the future.

In a time of such economic uncertainty, the expensive overhead costs of switching to greener technology may seem daunting. Unfortunately, the alternative to beginning the gradual shift now — that being the drastic switch when the oil suddenly runs out — will be a much bigger shock to our country’s bottom line and we’ll likely find ourselves in even worse economic shape than we do now.

If the prominent demographic at the Fill the Hill rallies tells us anything, it’s that environmentalism has become the fight of the youth. Whether it’s because this generation faces a constant barrage of climate change propaganda and are almost pressured to take a stance, or because they truly care about an issue that may seriously affect their lives, it’s only a matter of time before this generation will be in the position to make change on a national and international scale.

Until then, those who are unsatisfied with Prentice’s efforts and Canada’s positions as one of the top 10 polluting nations in the world should be pursuing individual efforts with a big impact, be it taking public transit or switching over to energy efficient light bulbs. These efforts will prove more effective than any non-binding agreement the government may align itself with in Copenhagen.

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