Food is an essential component in our lives. Without nutritious food in sufficient amount, we can’t live our lives fully. Food gives us energy, nourishes our bodies and can elevate our mood. Yes, the food we eat has a tremendous impact on how we feel and think.
Current food production and distribution systems are a major component in the accelerating world environmental and climate crises. We grow cash crops in places which are not suitable for it, depriving people living in the area of their basic needs such as clean water, space to live and a fair livelihood. Then we ship this food around the world, while losing a huge part of it due to handling throughout the transport and distribution processes, and leaving an enormous footprint on our planet.
Extreme weather events such as wild fires, flooding, heat waves and droughts are becoming more frequent and more intense year by year. Unpredictable weather patterns make it very hard for agriculture to adapt and create more losses. Our unsustainable way of growing and transporting crops, with billions of dollars in losses in food waste along the way, are driving the prices of food to new highs. This trend will continue unless we start rethinking and managing the food chain in much more sustainable and regenerative way.
In Canada alone, food costs for an average family increase by hundreds of dollars every year. Increased food prices, along with an overall rising cost of living and stagnant wages, are at the root of another big issue which needs to be tackled– food security.
Food insecurity is affecting all communities, without exception. We live in a connected world and the idea that this problem is not ‘our’ but ‘their’ problem is flawed on many levels. It is true that the primary reason of food insecurity is income insecurity. However, due to wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, ice storms and other extreme events, more and more people will become food insecure from disruptions in the food chain.
In the Greater Toronto Area, food access is considered to be the weakest link in the food security field. By bringing fresh food production closer to, or within urban areas, and educating residents about growing their own food, not only can the issue of food insecurity be addressed, but a lesser known problem – food that provides insufficient nutrition.
It’s known that levels of CO2 predicted in the atmosphere for 2050 will cause major deficiencies in the nutritional value of crops. Crops such as wheat, barley and rice will lose up to 10% of their protein content. These and other mineral deficiencies will cause malnutrition and other health issues, adding additional pressure to already challenged healthcare systems.
Food is at the center of our lives. We need healthy nutritious food to live, as we need clean air to breathe. The solutions and technologies are already there, we just need to start collectively with their implementation. The speed of change really depends on us, on our commitment and will to reverse the damage we’ve caused and to create a healthy thriving world.
In December 2020, the Sustainability Consultant Network team provided the following input to the ECCC discussion paper on a proposed plastics ban:
Dear Mr. Drouin,
Please find our response to the integrated management approach to plastic products below and attached as PDF.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on your discussion paper on the proposed plastic ban. We commend your integrated approach towards addressing this complex issue and we hope to see the elimination of plastic “waste” and pollution within the next 10 – 20 years. We believe this can best be achieved through a collaborative approach between relevant stakeholders and ensuring plastics are managed within a circular economy framework.
Sustainability Consultant Network (SCN) is an environmental grassroots organisation in Toronto. Our mission is to help address environmental challenges faced in the communities that we live in and beyond. We would like to contribute the following recommendations, pooled from our collective knowledge of the plastic situation in Canada and our diverse experiences around environmental sustainability.
We recently hosted a webinar that featured key stakeholders in the plastic debate, specifically a representative from the Plastics Division at the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, a progressive small business plastics recycler, and an expert on plastic litter from Western University. There were a lot of takeaways from the webinar which we have also used to inform our recommendations below:
The Federal Government should focus on reducing fossil fuel subsidies, including the fracking industry, to equalise the playing field between virgin and recycled plastics and thereby alleviate the problem at source.
Whilst we support the reduction of unnecessary plastic items as proposed by ECCC, we are concerned that using Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) may not be the most appropriate legislative tool for all plastics. It may be applicable for Plastics containing POPs (persistent organic pollutants) and other hazardous chemical additives. To this end, perhaps producers should be mandated to label their products with the aim of phasing out toxic additives.
We suggest using Sustainable Materials Management or Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation for less or non toxic plastics. These plastics would be managed as a technical resource that becomes part of a circular economy. Use of EPR would ensure plastics producers are held accountable for what they produce, which will hopefully lead to standardized non toxic plastics that are capable of being continuously recycled or recovered. Government should drive the industry to set realistic timeframes and goals to implement EPR. Products ending up as litter or in landfills/incinerators after a certain date should be traced back to the producer who will in turn be held accountable. We urge the Government to work closely with the Provinces and plastic industry experts (industry representatives, recyclers and producers) to incentivise and leverage innovative technologies for reduction, reuse, recycling and advanced recycling with the aim of recovering all plastics within a given timeframe.
The Federal Government should work with relevant stakeholders to set the industry standards, and incentives, for recycled content in plastic products.
Increase subsidies to municipalities to upgrade technologies and capacities so as to facilitate an increased recycling rate for plastics.
Use local and international best practice tools to increase recycling and recovery rates of plastics throughout Canada. Examples include a standardised container deposit systems, standardised blue box systems, redesign of certain plastic products and incentives to support innovation and technological solutions.
We are grateful for this opportunity to voice our views and recommendations and stand ready to engage in further dialogue. We will also be happy to discuss how we could use our organisation and network to contribute towards your plans to address the plastic issue.
Less then two months away from 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, but it’s been with us long enough to have numerous impacts on the environment and climate change. Let’s have a look at some environmental issues through the lens of the COVID pandemic.
Climate Change
Like the pandemic, climate change from human greenhouse gas emissions brings sickness, death, and displacement, along with a very high economic price. It has already made conditions more favourable to the spread of some infectious diseases, including insect-borne (Lyme disease, malaria, etc.) and waterborne diseases. It also increases the risk of new global and regional pandemics. For example, glacier and permafrost melt from climate change, has the potential to unleash deadly bacteria and viruses that have been dormant for thousands of years.. Scientific studies in recent years have confirmed this possibility, and yet, the issue attracted little public attention until COVID-19 hit.
One of the few environmental impacts reported by media as a positive impact from COVID is actually bad news . The global interruption in human activities, such as less travel, has resulted in a 17% year-over-year reduction of carbon emissions during the April lockdown (). However, according to a UN report released in September, while emissions of CO2 plummeted during the lockdown, as the world returned to work, concentrations of the long-lasting greenhouse gas have continued to rise in the atmosphere. The report also said it would require a pandemic-sized carbon slowdown every year for the next decade to prevent us from missing our 1.5 C target.
Moreover, the Paris Climate Accord of 2015, by which every country pledged to take action to keep global average temperatures from rising more than 2 C beyond pre-industrial levels, has been delayed and will not re-convene for at least another year. This could lead some countries not to incorporate climate change strategies in their stimulus plans.
Forest Fire and Deforestation
The outbreak of this pandemic has diverted government and public attention away from some other urgent environmental issues. Two of them are deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, and wildfires in California on an unprecedented scale
The Amazon rainforest, which absorbs 5% of global emissions, saw deforestation rise by 55% in the first four months of 2020 compared to 2019. With COVID case numbers now over 5.5 million in Brazil, the Brazilian government has not allocated enough resources to stop the resurgence of illegal deforestation. This adds an extra burden to the current climate change emergency.
While earth’s lungs are being attacked in the south, forests in the north are in flames. Before this year, California’s worst year of fire was in 2018. The first three quarters of 2020 have seen nearly 4 million acres burn, more than twice the 2018 total.
Luckily, there have still been some positive impacts on the environment.
Air Pollution
The global interruption has actually led to a decrease in air pollution. Research shows that experts estimated that the reduction in pollution may have saved at least 77,000 lives in two months.
Sustainable Energy Transition
The pandemic may have pushed the fossil fuel industry into “terminal decline” as demand decreases and governments shifted their focus to accelerate the clean energy transition. Stimulus programs from governments with a focus on renewable energy and climate-friendly projects could create millions of direct jobs.
The focus of long-term transition plans are also repositioned or reinforced. This September, as the biggest carbon emitter in the world, China stepped up and announced its goal to become “carbon neutral” before 2060. By doing so, it joins dozens of other countries in adopting mid-century “net zero” climate targets called for by the Paris Agreement. “Carbon Neutral” means not only reducing carbon emissions, but also offsetting emissions through natural systems or absorption technologies.
Biodiversity
Scientific evidence shows that COVID-19 virus was likely to have been exposed to humans through wildlife consumption. Biodiversity loss is a key driver of emerging infectious diseases, and protecting biodiversity is vital to human health, well-being and economic prosperity. While governments and industries have acknowledged the urgency of climate change, the current crisis may motivate governments to integrate biodiversity considerations onto the current recovery plans from the COVID crisis to help address these risks, while providing jobs and businesses opportunities to society.
Environmental Justice
COVID has cast a spotlight on largely unnoticed segments of society, such as low-income people in polluted neighbourhoods. Research shows that the pandemic has disproportionately affected lower income, racialized and crowded communities. For example, there is an association with higher mortality rates for individuals who had a COVID-19 infection and who was exposed to higher levels of air pollution. Communities of colour and low-income communities tend to be more exposed to heavily polluted land uses, and these communities which are vulnerable to COVID are also more likely to be vulnerable to other disasters. COVID is making these invisible communities visible again.
The COVID-19 pandemic is altering the current situations of these environmental issues directly or indirectly, by altering their nature, shedding a spotlight on them, reallocating resources or reshaping policies. The good news is that the pandemic is awakening us to our mistake of treating environmental issues and global health policy as separate issues. As with the new behaviours and practices we adopted during the pandemic, we can adapt to prevent and mitigate the effects from climate change and other environmental issues. We need to acknowledge the dire threats we are facing and how intertwined the nature of environmental issues and public health are, urge suitable policies and practices and drive demands for change from government, industry and individuals, and rebuild a society that is more equitable, sustainable, and resilient. If we fail, the next pandemic could be much, much worse.
When I worked with a foundation in NYC we held a meeting of Executive Directors from various youth organizations. One ED told us that the youth they were involved with “had been doing pollution/trash cleanup along rivers and other areas. They (the youth) said that they did not want to get involved with politics for dealing with these problems. They thought that politics was too complex, corrupted, and insurmountable. They wanted to do something they felt they could see the direct results of their efforts like picking up trash along the river.”
We understood their lament, getting immediate results was a good feeling and politics, well … we all have a certain bias when it come to dealing with politicians. However we told them that if they didn’t get involved in politics it would be very likely that their grandchildren would be doing the same cleanup of the same rivers and environment they are doing today.
