25 October 2006

Good for us, Canuckleheads

Canada among worst resource abusers

The world's natural ecosystems are being degraded at a rate unprecedented in human history, and it's the First World behemoths doing most of the damage, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The conservation group said in an international report yesterday that if current global consumption plans continue, the world will need two planets worth of natural resources every year by 2050. The group has studied each country's impact on the environment, as well as changes in the world's biodiversity. Both parts of the report deliver bad news. Despite having enough natural resources to be an “ecological debtor,” Canada came fourth on the list of countries putting the heaviest burden on the environment. The only countries with a worse ecological footprint were the United Arab Emirates, the US and Finland. The report states that impact on the planet has more than tripled since 1961, and society's footprint now exceeds the world's ability to regenerate by about 25%. Reliance on fossil fuels continues to grow, and climate-changing emissions now make up 48% of that global footprint. The carbon-dioxide footprint from the use of fossil fuels was the fastest growing component of world change, increasing more than ninefold from 1961 to 2003. Even with moderate projections of population, food and carbon dioxide impacts, the WWF says that humanity's resource demand will be double the Earth's capacity by 2050. The average per-capita environmental footprint is 2.2 global hectares per person, a hectare with average ability to produce resources and absorb waste. Canada averages 7.6 global hectares, while the US uses 9.6. One saving grace is Canada's vast wealth of resources. Thanks to its massive bio-capacity, the WWF says, Canada does have plenty up its sleeve, and unlike most countries, has a positive ecological deficit and puts very little stress on its freshwater systems.
(Globe and Mail 061025)

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