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Chapter Summary
On paper, Canada has an impressive raft of legislation, policies, strategies, and action plans regarding the environment. The translation of these in to “on-the-ground-improvements” is often chronically under-resourced. This chapter will provide a brief overview of how governance institutions have historically responded to environmental change and challenge, both internationally and domestically, within Canada. Canada is a large country, and the various levels of government (federal, provincial/territorial, municipal, Indigenous) are complex and often work poorly together. This chapter thus discusses how we try measuring progress through the use of indicators and outlines various kinds of indicators and their strengths and weaknesses.
An assessment of global and national progress is presented, as well as the role of corporations and educational institutions; however, governments and institutions are only part of the answer and the focus of this chapter is on solutions at all three levels: global, national, and individual.
The final section of this chapter reflects the conviction that individuals can make a significant difference in how the environmental challenges presented in this book will develop over the next decade, if we are aware of the problems and are willing to do something about them. The chapter ends by providing some ideas about how you can become involved in creating change.
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
- Identify some of the main global responses to environmental degradation
- Discuss some of the main Canadian responses to environmental degradation
- Explain Canada’s position within the global context for environmental response
- Examine the ways in which corporations can respond to environmental challenges
- Assess how important environment is to the administration of your university
- Make better decisions to minimize your impact on the environment
- Use your influence more effectively to benefit the environment
- Clarify what “the good life” means for you
- Describe different ways of tracking progress among nations on environmental matters over time