AWARE News Network December 20 2013

Brian Smith, a student in ecosystem management at Fleming College, Linday, started a Facebook page two days ago called Canadians for Environmental Responsibility.

It’s intended to highlight issues seldom heard about in the mainstream media. As an example his first post refers to the closing of the Fisheries Libraries across the country in an article by Andrew Nikiforuk. The response was overwhelming, he says.

The following is an article he wrote in September of 2012 and reposted on his Facebook page.

The Canadian Predicament

By Brian Smith Canadians for Environmental Responsibility

My father-in-law is 96 years old, and a very well-respected Fisheries scientist. Those of you in the ‘Fish and Wildlife’ program will likely have heard of him. He co-authored one of your text books. “The Freshwater Fishes of Canada” His name is Dr. W.B. Scott, Bev to his friends and family. He has been (and still is) an Environmentalist, Ecologist, Naturalist, Biologist, Scientist and above all else an Ichthyologist for the past 85 years. He is a veteran of the Second World War, retired professor at U of T and curator of Ichthyology at the Royal Ontario Museum, former director at the Huntsman Marine Science Centre and he lived through the depression. He has been presented with the Order of Canada, and many other honours and awards have been bestowed upon him. He is a gentleman in every sense of the word.

He is an inspiration to me personally, and the catalyst that spurred me into attending Fleming in the EM program. I am 51 years old, and want to change the world…. Don’t laugh. If you had asked me ten years ago, while I was immersed in a completely different career and life what I was going to be doing in 2013, the answer would not have been going to Fleming and learning about the world of nature. The metamorphosis I have undergone because of this man’s encouragement is huge.

Dr. Scott and I talk at least once a week, and it’s not small talk. We talk about all things Canadian, environmental and political. He is on the ball, and has the history and knowledge to back it up. However, what may surprise you is that Dr. Scott is a very discouraged and sad person. He is also a very angry man.

Let me try and explain why he feels that way.

150 years ago the population of the world was less than 1.5 billion. Today that number is more than 7 billion and climbing. The population was 2 billion when Bev was 10 years old. Consider that for a moment. It took us as a species tens of thousands of years to reach a number less than 1.5 billion and less than 150 years to reach 7 billion. Why is that? Well the answer is absolutely everywhere you look.

Oil! It is the discovery of oil and its many uses that created such rapid change in the world. Oil made men rich. Not just oil-men, but all industrialists. It reduced costs and improved efficiency. It spurred the industrial revolution into high gear. Oil is so versatile that it is used not just for transportation and heating, which is what most people think of, but in almost every manufacturing process that exists. Look at how much plastic is involved in every day of our lives. Look at the plastic wrap on your food and in your kitchen cabinet, the cell phone you use, the computer you are sitting at. We see all these things as a convenience, and they are. But how often do you consider how they got there?

The Canadian Predicament can be explained in a simple sentence I coined a few months ago while discussing this with Dr. Scott; “All of our technology makes us look like geniuses, however when you look at what we have done to the world around us with that technology, we look more like intellectual midgets.”

As Dr. Scott gets older he has difficulty reconciling himself with the fact that he spent a lifetime working to learn about and protect our natural environment, yet our governments and industry appear to have forgotten what a healthy natural environment means to the health and well being of a society. The planet according to him (and I) is a community, and as we erode our environments and associated ecosystems we erode our communities.

We believe that the problem Canadian’s face environmentally (The Canadian Predicament) is systemic and that change will need to be slow. We can’t simply stop using oil or the other resources which abound in Canada. That would be economic suicide. We can however change our laws and policies to enforce sustainable and safe resource extraction, transportation and refining processes. We can open debate around environmental issues and allow our scientists, citizens, communities, politicians and industry to have a say. We can educate ourselves and our children about the importance of the natural world. But how can we swim upstream against corporate greed and their lobbyists? How is it possible to change our government’s way of doing things?

This is why Dr. Scott feels betrayed. He believes our government has sold him out to corporations and big business and the science and associated knowledge he spent a lifetime accumulating means nothing anymore. We at know this is not true, I mean his text ‘The Freshwater Fishes of Canada’ (often referred to as the Bible of Canadian Fishes) is used at schools and by researchers across the country. It has value here, but not in the world of government and big business. Not in a world where such critical decisions are made. That would be a hindrance to progress.

As Canada faces a future of environmental degradation in the face of corporate greed, We will all have some tough decisions to make. What do you believe the impact will be on the future of Canada and the world? Good, bad or are you feeling indifferent?

Between the rapid expansion of the Alberta Tar Sands, the development of Ontario’s Ring of Fire, the proposed development of the Arctic region for resource extraction, proposed and existing pipeline infrastructure from coast to coast to coast, and hundreds of approved exploration and resource extraction applications in waiting, what will the result of all this be? An economic boon for the country, or an environmental boondoggle?

Dr. Scott and I urge you (if you have not already done so) to educate yourself. Listen to the news, do some research and decide for yourself if Canada is in a predicament. What effect will the decisions our government makes today have on your future? Be critical in your thinking and assessment and consider all the potential outcomes not just for yourself but for the country as a whole. Are we walking the path of a Canada you wish to live in? Can we be better stewards for the benefit of all? Food for thought.

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