Our beliefs, our values shape the way we look out at the world and the way we treat it. If we believe that we were here, placed here by God, that this – all of this creation is for us, it’s for us to go and occupy, dominate and exploit, then we will proceed to do that.
Human beings are often at their best when responding to immediate crises – car accidents, house fires, hurricanes. We are less effective in the face of enormous but slow-moving crises such as the loss of biodiversity or climate change...
Less than 10% of the fuel energy burned in automobiles is translated into forward motion of the vehicle and even then most of this energy is needed to move the vehicle itself, which typically weighs 20 times more than its passengers.
Think about a seed. Once it lands, it’s stuck. It can’t move to find better soil, moisture or sunlight. It’s able to create every part of itself to grow and reproduce with the help of air, water and sun.
Aboriginal people are key because they have a different sense of where we belong and how we interact with nature.
There are some things in the world we can’t change...
The terrible part of this looming catastrophe is that people have been working on solutions for years and have developed concrete steps to massively reduce our energy use, while stimulating whole new industries and technologies that are more efficient and affordable.
Over and over, we hear politicians say they can’t spend our tax dollars on environmental protection when the economy is so fragile.
Environmentalism isn’t a discipline or specialty. It’s a way of seeing our place in the world. And we need everybody to see the world that way. Don’t think ‘In order to make a difference I have to become an environmentalist.’
My earliest memory from childhood is of fishing with my father. And I remember vividly we were in a store, and we were buying a pup tent to go on our first camping trip.
Global trade has advantages. For starters, it allows those of us who live through winter to eat fresh produce year-round. And it provides economic benefits to farmers who grow that food.
Each time I visit Japan, I am reminded of how Canadian I am and how little racial connection matters.
The human brain had a vast memory storage. It made us curious and very creative. Those were the characteristics that gave us an advantage – curiosity, creativity and memory. And that brain did something very special. It invented an idea called ‘the future.’
But human borders mean nothing to air, water, windblown soil or seeds or migrating fish, birds or mammals.
Canada, more than any nation, will be affected by rising sea levels from global warming.
The current economic system is fundamentally flawed and inevitably destructive.
Come on Canada, it’s time to kick our bad habits and get into shape!
Each of us has the ability to act powerfully for change; together we can restore that ancient and sustaining harmony.
We all live downstream.
More than any other time in history, the 1990s will be a turning point for human civilization.