What’s on your Christmas wish list?

By Selena Randall

I didn’t send a wish list to Santa this year, but if I did, here are just some of the things I would put on it.

A right to a healthy environment – Canadians currently don’t have a right to a healthy environment unlike Norway, Brazil, Philippines, Portugal and 106 other countries have through protection for the air, land and water that our health depends on. As a result, 130 communities have unsafe drinking water in their communities.

A ban on the use of Styrofoam in packaging – Styrofoam is produced from petrochemicals and the production process releases harmful gases into the atmosphere. And just so we can throw it away into landfills. There are plenty of waste, or even plant based materials that are being used to package goods in other countries – often coming out of the same factories producing the product for Canadians.

A reduction in the use of peat products for gardening - Peat is a renewable product but over long timescales. The wetlands that are being carved up to mine this garden material are declining habitat world-wide, and behave like our kidneys – they clean up our waterways and act as carbon sinks. There are plenty of other options including from the municipal composting scheme. 

A ban on organic waste to landfills – it just creates problems for future generations, and really there are far better ways to deal with it. In other countries waste collectors refuse to collect leaves and grass-clippings. Homeowners have to compost their own or transport their garden waste to the landfill or in many places use a green waste collection scheme to have it collected curbside.

A ban on plastic bags – our grocery stores are trying hard to reduce our use of this troublesome waste, but why not push us a little harder and stop handing the bags out at all. If African and Asian countries can do it, so can we. Plastic bags are made from petrochemicals and they last forever – even the biodegradable ones just break down into smaller pieces.

A Manitoba carbon tax – a carbon tax puts a monetary price on the real costs imposed on our economy, communities and our planet by greenhouse gases. British Columbia and Quebec are using carbon taxes to reduce emissions and encourage investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy, which is driving a green economy.

A fair price for locally generated power from alternative sources – generating power at the household or community scale needs to be given the credit it deserves, and needs to be used when it is available. At present Manitoba Hydro does not encourage domestic or community schemes to connect to its grid, but other provinces and other countries have rebate systems which can substantially offset the cost of installation.

I’m not sure Santa can deliver these, and I think I could be sending the same list every year for most of my lifetime. You may agree or disagree with the items I’ve listed, and you may suggestions of your own. If you would like to comment, please visit our ‘Carillon column’ page on our website.