Chapter 2 Review Questions

F (see “Environmental Impacts of Politics”)

F (see “Sustainable Development Goals”)

F (see “Sustainable Development Goals”)

F (see “Corporate Perspectives”)

F (see “Measuring Progress”)

F (see “Sustainable Development Goals”)

T (see “Recycle”)

T (see “Reduce”)

T (see “Corporate Perspectives”)

At the end of 2015, at least some progress had been made on almost all MDG targets. For example, extreme poverty was reduced by half, access to an improved drinking water source be-came a reality for 2.3 billion people, and child mortality was almost halved; however, most statistics demonstrate that environmental problems are getting decidedly worse. This assessment suggests that we have done quite well in improving the lot of humanity, but not on the environment on which we all depend.

(see “Sustainable Development Goals”)

The Happy Planet Index (HPI) is one index that attempts to provide a different perspective on human well-being and environmental impact and focus on achieving sustainability. The HPI is based on the idea that most people want to live long and fulfilling lives and that the country doing the best is one that allows its citizens to do so while avoiding infringing on the ability of people in the future and in other countries to do the same. Human well-being is assessed as “happy life years” and “impacts” to provide an index of the environmental efficiency of sup-porting well-being in a given country. Each country’s HPI value is derived by multiplying a score for subjective life satisfaction, life expectancy at birth, and inequality measures, and then dividing this figure by the per capita ecological footprint.

(see “Indicators”)

Light living can be incorporated into daily life in many ways, using the four Rs: refusing to buy unnecessary things, reducing consumption in all areas (particularly transportation and food), re-using products, and recycling. Fighting the urge to consume is one of the most challenging areas and is an uphill battle against the constant bombardment of advertisement and media.
(see “Light Living”)

MacDonalds’ Scale for Good program

Walmart’s Personal Sustainability project

The Laidlaw Foundation and Richard Ivey Foundation environmental funding programs

(see “Corporate Perspectives”)

The law of everybody is the understanding that if everyone did many small things of a conserving and environmentally aware nature, major environmental problems, threats, and dangers would be ameliorated or alleviated.

(see “The Law of Everybody”)

One of the best ways to influence business is through your purchasing power as a consumer. If consumers refuse to buy certain products because of their impact on the environment, the manufacturer will either have to respond to these concerns or go out of business. Consumer boycotts and carrot mobs (leading with the carrot to support “good” companies) are both means of letting manufacturers know what you want as a consumer.

(see “Influence”)

An industrial example is Volvo, which provides LCAs for the various components involved in vehicle manufacture. Some NGOs, such as Green Seal, provide standards for various products that manufacturers must meet to gain their endorsement. Others have excellent programs to assist consumers, industry, and government in making wise procurement decisions.

(see “Corporate Perspectives”)

The principle of subsidiarity stipulates that decisions should be taken at the level closest to where consequences are most noticeable. In the early to mid-1990s, many provincial governments in Canada began to download selected responsibilities to municipalities. The provinces argued that downloading was consistent with the principle of subsidiarity; however, the primary motive often was provincial governments’ desire to shift the cost of many responsibilities to lower levels of government to reduce provincial debts and deficits. Whatever the motivation, the outcome is that municipalities have become much more significant players in natural resource and environmental management, since, in many instances, provinces have withdrawn from related management activities.

(see “Jurisdictional Arrangements in Canada”)

Nature deficit disorder describes an increasing gap in understanding of the real world on the part of the younger generation. Instead of playing outdoors, an increasing proportion of the youth of today are glued to their computer or TV screens. They seldom visit the outside world, especially areas dominated by nature rather than human activities, and a feedback loop develops. As a result, they tend to avoid encounters with nature and become even further estranged. At a time when it is critical that more people become involved in significant environmental action, we seem to be producing a new generation that is further than ever from developing any attachment to the environment. This does not bode well for society in the future as this generation matures and becomes the main economic drivers and decision-makers.

(see “Educational Perspectives”)

The 2018 report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development focused on Canada’s preparedness to meet the UN’s 2030 Agenda, specifically the Sustainable Development Goals. The audit found a lack of governance structures to implement the SDGs. The commissioner recommended developing a federal response and implementation plan to achieve national sustainable development targets.
(see “Monitoring Progress toward Sustainable Development in Canada”)

Canada’s overall rank in 2018 was twenty-fifth, a very modest position for a large, rich country. Canada scores well on some attributes, such as drinking water, where we ranked first (although some Indigenous communities would likely disagree with this assessment), air quality, fourth, and agriculture, twelfth. Unfortunately, for forestry we ranked 101st, for fisheries, 121st, and for climate and energy, 137th. For biodiversity protection we ranked sixty-eighth and for ecosystem vitality, seventy-fourth.
(see “Environmental Impacts of Politics”)

Ecological footprints measure the demands that humans place on nature in terms of supplying materials and disposing of wastes. Biocapacity is the amount of biologically productive area—cropland, pasture, forest, and fisheries—available to meet humanity’s needs. While biocapacity has increased about 27 per cent between 1961 and 2014, mainly due to land use management and technological changes, humanity’s footprint has increased 190 per cent over the same time period, mainly due to carbon. Since 1970, the ecological footprint had exceeded the Earth’s bio-capacity. The challenge is to devise effective strategies to reduce the footprint to below bio-capacity before the ecological debt becomes insurmountable.

(see “Indicators”)

Each political party often offers a different focus and approach for responding to environmental change and challenge. Depending on the party controlling the national or provincial legislature, there can be significant ramifications for environmental policy, as well as the regulation and implementation of these policies. Federal governments must work in conjunction with provincial governments, which may be formed by different political parties, and which often have different, competing, and regionally specific interests. Environmental policies and strategies can shift significantly with a change of government and enlightened political leadership can play a major role in implementing change at the societal level.

(see “Environmental Impacts of Politics”)

Bob Gifford (2013) has distilled the many reasons why people do not take action into eight categories:

• limited thinking
• ideology
• influence
• investments
• discredence
• perceived risk
• limited behaviour
• time is money 

(see “The Law of Everybody”, Box 2.8)

Authority and responsibility for natural resources and the environment is divided between the federal and provincial governments, with territorial and municipal governments increasingly having a role. As well, Indigenous peoples are increasing their role commensurate with their being recognized as a new order of government. The provinces manage crown lands and natural resources. The Canadian North and resources found on or under seabeds off the coasts of Canada are also federal jurisdiction.
(see “Jurisdictional Arrangements in Canada”)

Indicators provide information on environmental problems that enables policy-makers to evaluate their seriousness, develop policy and set priorities, and monitor the effects of policy responses. Indicators can also help raise public awareness and generate support for government actions. While indicators, indices, and composite indices are important for understanding and monitoring environmental challenges, they are not without problems. One issue difficult to re-solve in reporting on environmental change is the degree of aggregation of information included in an indicator. An almost infinite amount of information could be collected on environmental systems. Much of this information might be useful for understanding the basic nature of the system while not being necessary for decision-making. There are also issues with ongoing misuse of indicators, when a reporting body selects only those indicators that best convey a desirable message.

(see “Indicators”)