The Environment is Improving - Eight Reasons to Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Earth Day
Contact:
Laura Jones, Director of Environmental and Regulatory Studies,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4547 Email: lauraj@fraserinstitute.caRelease Date: 18 April 2000
VANCOUVER,BC>>>The Fraser Institute says that on this 30th anniversary of Earth Day, there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future health of our environment. In fact, environmental quality in Canada has improved dramatically over the last 30 years, up a full 18 percent since 1980.
"Thirty years after the first Earth Day (April 22) put the issue of environmental degradation on the front burner of political discourse in North America, there is much to celebrate," says Laura Jones, Director of Environmental and Regulatory Studies at the institute.
Canadians have eight notable reasons to celebrate Earth Day this year:
- Air Quality in Canada Has Improved Dramatically
- Forest Land in Canada is Plentiful
- Canadian Water Quality is Improving
- Scientists are Unconvinced there is a Global Warming Crisis Due to Human Activity
- Economic Growth and Environmental Quality are Compatible
- The World Does Not Face an Overpopulation Crisis
- Canada Does Not Face an Endangered Species Crisis
- There is No Garbage Crisis in Canada
Air Quality in Canada
Overall air quality in Canada has improved 41 percent relative to 1974. The most dramatic improvements have been reductions in lead (88 percent), carbon monoxide (74 percent), sulphur dioxide (61 percent), and particulates (53 percent). Cleaner technology has been responsible for much of the decline in air pollution. For example, North American cars today emit 90 percent less nitrogen dioxide, 97 percent less hydrocarbon, and 96 percent less carbon monoxide than cars built two decades ago. Reductions in emissions from automobiles are expected to continue as more old cars are retired.
Forest Land in Canada is Plentiful
Today, almost half of the land base in Canada (45%) (418 Million Hectares) is forest land. The amount of that forest land harvested is less than the amount of forests lost annually to natural events. Less than 0.2 percent (about 1 million hectares) of Canada's total forests were actually harvested in 1997, compared with approximately 0.5 percent of Canada's total forests lost to fire or insect damage each year.
Canadian Water Quality is Improving
The number of instances where water quality readings violated local standards has declined 11 percent relative to 1980 levels. In addition, water quality in the Great Lakes has improved considerably. Levels of phosphorus, Dichloro-diphenyldichloro-ethylene (DDE), Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and hexachloro-benzenes (HCBs) have fallen by 23 percent, 48 percent, 63 percent, and 54 percent respectively.
About 93 percent of Canada's municipal population was served by wastewater treatment in 1994, compared to 72 percent in 1983.
Scientists are Unconvinced there is a Global Warming Crisis Due to Human Activity
The scientific community has not reached consensus on global warming. In fact, the only real consensus in the global warming debate is that there is a great deal of uncertainty about predicting future climate changes, and that it is difficult to determine why these changes occur. A survey of state climatologists in the U.S. found that by a 44 percent to 17 percent margin, climatologists agreed that "recent global warming is a largely natural phenomenon." According to the results of the same survey, 9 out of 10 climatologists agreed that "scientific evidence indicates variations in global temperature are likely to be naturally occurring and cyclical over very long periods of time," and 89 percent agreed that "current science is unable to isolate and measure variations in global temperatures caused only by man-made factors."
Economic Growth and Environmental Quality are Compatible
Economic growth and environmental quality are natural allies. As per capita incomes rise, many indicators of environmental quality improve. According to a World Bank analysis, sulphur dioxide emissions decline when per capita incomes reach US$3,670; fecal coliform bacteria declines at per capita incomes of US$1,375; and smoke and particulate matter decline when per capita incomes reach US$3,280. Another study done by economists Gene Grossman and Alan Krueger finds that most indicators of pollution start to fall before a country reaches a per capita income of $8,000 (1985 $US).
The World Does Not Face an Overpopulation Crisis
There is enough food and space to accommodate the world's population.
Food production has increased considerably faster than population since the 1950s and if the world's entire population were to move to the state of Texas, the population density per square mile would be 20,705 people, almost the same density as Paris (20,185) or Toronto (20,420). In addition, the growth of world population as slowed to 1.3 percent a year from its peak of 2.2 percent in the 1960s. Roughly half of the world's population live in countries where fertility rates are below replacement. Fertility rates in countries where births are above-replacement rates are starting to fall. If current demographic trends continue, the world's population may peak at 7.5 billion in 2040 before starting to decline.
Canada Does Not Face an Endangered Species Crisis
The last mammal extinction in Canada, the Queen Charlotte Island population of Woodland Caribou, did not happen yesterday, last week, or even last month, but 80 years ago. The last extinction of a bird, the passenger pigeon, occurred 86 years ago. In total, 12 animal species in Canada have become extinct since 1840, mostly a result of unregulated hunting, trapping, and commercial fishing. Fortunately, the problem of over-harvesting, with the exception of the federally-regulated fisheries, has been solved. Canada has a small population and large landmass (80 percent of the population lives in 0.2 percent of the total land area), which affords our species a high level of natural protection. In addition, conservation groups like the Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited are working with Canada's landowners to help protect vulnerable habitat.
There is No Garbage Crisis in Canada
Canada disposes of most of its solid waste (67 percent) in landfills. This heavy reliance on landfills has caused some to fear that countries are running out of space for them. But this popular belief is unfounded. According to a study done by Resources for the Future, if all of the solid waste that America will generate for the next ten centuries were put into a single place, it would only require a hole 44 miles on each side and 120 feet deep (one tenth of one percent of the land area of the continental United States). Canada, whose land mass is larger and population smaller than the United States would require an even smaller landfill representing an even smaller amount of the total land base.
"While it is clear that we have not satisfied our increasing demand for environmental amenity, we should celebrate the tremendous progress we have made in reducing pollution since environmentalists first raised our collective awareness thirty years ago," says Jones.
Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver.
For further information contact:
Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582,
Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca
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