Difficult times are the greatest test of our resolve.
A huge part of working toward a better me, is understanding the inseparable nature of our relationship with the natural environment around us.
One would hope that long gone are the days where a more ecological approach to business was an option left to the moral integrity of a select few.
It would seem however, that the powers that be and those select few are still bent on challenging the resolve of those of us who see our natural habitat as a place worth protecting.
A huge part of working toward a better me, is understanding the inseparable nature of our relationship with the natural environment around us.
One would hope that long gone are the days where a more ecological approach to business was an option left to the moral integrity of a select few.
It would seem however, that the powers that be and those select few are still bent on challenging the resolve of those of us who see our natural habitat as a place worth protecting.
I would like to share a troubling article from the Montreal Gazette yesterday that was taken from the Winnipeg Free Press, that blatantly shows us that there are still people who walk among us that think caring for the environment is optional. If you would care to read the article in full just click here or continue reading.
It would be my pleasure to save you the time and provide you with a summary of the contents. Unlike the typical media approach, who never seem to offer any real solutions, just the bad news; I will also include the e-mail address of our environment minister, to whom you can send off a quick note or cut and paste the last 4 paragraphs of this post, to express your reservations toward them even considering such a preposterous request.
In brief, a wood mill in Swan River Manitoba has made a request to the provincial government to turn off its pollution control devices, due to the high cost of operating them. The mill, Louisiana-Pacific, claims that the present economic times are pushing them to decide whether to layoff employees or reduce expenses by shutting down the pollution control devices.
I would never downplay the pain that families go through with job losses, I've been there and I know you have too. But what they're proposing is a short term solution for a few people while showing absolutely no regard for the long term damage that is inevitable with this line of thinking. Individuals can retrain, re-educate, relocate, but the natural environment takes decades to recover. I wonder if the top executives considered personal pay cuts or reduced bonuses before proposing such an alternative.
If businesses can't be competitive while respecting the irrefutable obligation to maintain an ecological approach; they have no place in an enlightened society. There clearly needs to be policies in place to ensure that the environment doesn't only take priority when times are good. That can only be accomplished once we've implemented a sustainable approach that can be respected even when cutbacks need to be made in the sectors that have the capacity to do the most harm.
Reverting to old ways as a solution is so perplexing, as it's the past vision of unsustainable practices in the financial sector that have led us down this bleak road, economically and ecologically speaking; but don't believe for a second that they're separate.
E-mail address of Jim Prentice Minister of the Environment
Minister@ec.gc.ca
Web site for the environment minister
It would be my pleasure to save you the time and provide you with a summary of the contents. Unlike the typical media approach, who never seem to offer any real solutions, just the bad news; I will also include the e-mail address of our environment minister, to whom you can send off a quick note or cut and paste the last 4 paragraphs of this post, to express your reservations toward them even considering such a preposterous request.
In brief, a wood mill in Swan River Manitoba has made a request to the provincial government to turn off its pollution control devices, due to the high cost of operating them. The mill, Louisiana-Pacific, claims that the present economic times are pushing them to decide whether to layoff employees or reduce expenses by shutting down the pollution control devices.
I would never downplay the pain that families go through with job losses, I've been there and I know you have too. But what they're proposing is a short term solution for a few people while showing absolutely no regard for the long term damage that is inevitable with this line of thinking. Individuals can retrain, re-educate, relocate, but the natural environment takes decades to recover. I wonder if the top executives considered personal pay cuts or reduced bonuses before proposing such an alternative.
If businesses can't be competitive while respecting the irrefutable obligation to maintain an ecological approach; they have no place in an enlightened society. There clearly needs to be policies in place to ensure that the environment doesn't only take priority when times are good. That can only be accomplished once we've implemented a sustainable approach that can be respected even when cutbacks need to be made in the sectors that have the capacity to do the most harm.
Reverting to old ways as a solution is so perplexing, as it's the past vision of unsustainable practices in the financial sector that have led us down this bleak road, economically and ecologically speaking; but don't believe for a second that they're separate.
E-mail address of Jim Prentice Minister of the Environment
Minister@ec.gc.ca
Web site for the environment minister
