Ontario Boreal Forest Half the Size of Texas to Be Protected
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.15.08
It gets harder every day to figure out who to vote for in Ontario if you are a TreeHugger type. It used to be New Democratic Party turf; then the Green Party came along, but one can't overlook the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty, which has pushed every TreeHugger button including:
Health: Banned trans fats in schools, smoking in cars with children, lawn pesticides and pit bulls. Planning: Cleaned up the planning act and brought in the Green Belt. Electricity: Banned incandescent bulbs, removed rules against clotheslines, closing coal fired power plants (or trying, anyways) Cycling: Eliminated sales tax on bikes and helmets.
But now he has topped it all; he has banned all mining and logging in half of the boreal forest (an area the size of Michigan) and restricted the other half to a "sustainable development" plan worked out with First Nations. "It is, in a word, immense. It's also unique and precious. It's home to the largest untouched forest in Canada and the third largest wetland in the world," McGuinty said.
Ontario forest image from Torontoist
Karen Howlett reports in the Globe and Mail:
Native leaders in Ontario have been pushing the government to change the province's mining laws to better protect their interests when companies explore on their traditional lands.
Mr. McGuinty said that permanently protecting the boreal lands also helps a world wrestling with the effects of climate change, as they are a globally significant carbon sink. The region absorbs about 12.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.
ForestEthics, which has been pushing for the changes for several years, applauded the announcement.
It's the ”largest conservation commitment in Canada and raises the bar for environmental protection across this country and around the world,” Gillian McEachern said in a statement. ::Globe and Mail
Forest Preservation activists love it.
“This is a visionary and unprecedented policy. Today’s announcement fulfills the Premier’s promise to protect the Boreal Forest by doing Land Use Planning before large scale industrial development. It sets out an incredible conservation agenda that will be a legacy for all our grandchildren and their grandchildren,” -Janet Sumner, Executive Director of CPAWS Wildlands League. "The area set aside for protection is equivalent in size to the state of Texas, or twice the size of England." (um, no. Texas is 696,241 Km2, well over twice as big. the full boreal forest is 450,917 sq.km. )
More Green Action in Ontario:
Ontario Gets 407 Megawatts of Solar Power Contracts, Originally Expected 88 Megawatts
Ontario Bans Bans on Clotheslines
Bikes in Ontario are 8% Cheaper Today
Ontario Changes Environment Ministers
Ontario Election 2007: Who is the Greenest, Part 2
Ontario Election 2007: The Parties
New Energy Plan for Ontario: No Coal
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It's true that he is doing truly AMAZING things. I was so moved by the news about the Boreal forests that I had to write to his office saying how proud I am of the decision.
I am a big Green Party supporter, but it might just be the time when the 'eco movement' goes out of the hands of the activists and becomes plain-old common sense to everyone.
This means that Kleenex will have to stop using the Boreal to make their products! I wonder if Greenpeace knows.
This means that Kleenex will have to stop using the Boreal to make their products! I wonder if Greenpeace knows.
Don't give McGuinty too much credit.
Incandescent bulbs haven't been banned, he's just promised to ban them through a regulation that hasn't been written. He claims it should happen some time before 2012. But not before deciding on what an official reasonable alternative is.
The cosmetic pesticides ban is not in force. That law only becomes active when McGuinty decides that it's convenient to make the law active. It's completely his whim, if he was serious about it, the law could have been active on passing or become active on a set date.
And what about the $40 billion the Liberals are going to spend on nuclear power?
Almost everything they announce is simply a headline. Once you read the fine print, it's a big disappointment. There are plenty of reasons why this endeavour won't amount to much.
We are still very far away from sustainability and the Libs aren't taking us there.
Ontario's environment minister, John Gerretsen also just recently approved an industry-led plan to manage end-of-life electronics in Canada.
I wonder if this will drive any more of those pesky Canadian mining companies onto our islands.
"For 16 years the Marcopper Mine spewed toxic waste into a shallow bay, filling it with 200 million tons of toxic tailings. When exposed to the ocean breezes, the tailings become airborne and landed on the rice fields, in open wells, and on village homes. The locals called this “their snow from Canada”. This "Snow from Canada" has forced 59 children to undergo traumatic lead detoxification in the Philippine capital of Manila. Unfortunately, at least three children have died from this heavy metal poisoning."
Exporting foul processes indeed.