Media Clipping — June 3, 2001, The Halifax Herald

Trimming our footprint – Here's how you can reduce your impact on Mother Earth

Part 2 of a pair of articles by Silver Donald Cameron
See previous article, Ecological Footprints.

GPI ATLANTIC'S recent report called The Nova Scotia Ecological Footprint (www.gpiatlantic.org) shows that the average Nova Scotian uses the productive capacity of 8.1 hectares of the Earth to sustain his or her lifestyle - but our fair share is only 1.8 hectares each. If everyone on Earth consumed as we do, humanity would need four more planets to support itself.

Ecologically, we are living in deficit, and GPI Atlantic proposes that we undertake to reduce our footprint to seven hectares now. It seems a modest goal, and most of us could probably achieve it simply by changing our habits. There is no one simple fix; we affect the environment in everything we do. But we have actually known many of the solutions since the oil shocks of the 1970s, though we abandoned them when the oil price fell.

We can buy intelligent, efficient vehicles and resolve once again to turn down our thermostats. We can insulate our houses, drive less, walk more.

Those actions drove our provincial footprint down from 9.7 hectares in 1979 to less than seven hectares in the early 1980s. We can also use more local products, especially food. We currently import 88 per cent of our food, the average item from 2,000 kilometres away. The energy used in producing and delivering food represents nearly 14 per cent of our total energy use.

In short, we can strive to follow the dramatic example of Phil Thompson, an energy consultant on Saltmarsh Island on the Eastern Shore, who powers his small home on one horsepower, derived entirely from renewable sources.

That's about 80 per cent less energy than even frugal North American homes, and it demonstrates what a dedicated individual can accomplish even against the grain of a wasteful consumer society.

Still, there is a limit to what we can do as individuals. A deep reduction in our footprint requires serious political and social change. We need to plan differently, tax differently, build differently, think differently.

The good news is that such changes can also improve the quality of our lives. Consider food, once again. In 1921, Nova Scotia had 47,000 farms with nearly two million hectares under cultivation, and we were largely self-sufficient in food. Today the number of farms has shrunk by 90 per cent, and the area of farmland by 80 per cent. Strong support for sustainable farming and local agriculture would re-invigorate rural life while reducing both our energy footprint and our dependence on imports. Fresh organic foods would improve our diet as well, and reduce the strain on our health-care system.

Obesity, says GPI, probably costs Nova Scotia $120 million in health care costs every year.

Other changes may be highly controversial. We should invest heavily in public transportation, for example, subsidizing trains and buses while discouraging private vehicle use.

In practice, that might mean implementing commuter rail service down the South Shore and the Valley from Halifax rather than twinning Highways 101 and 103. Some motorists would be outraged. We could also use tax incentives and regulation to discourage suburban sprawl and foster higher-density neighbourhoods. Builders and owners of suburban monster homes would scream about that, too.

But Nova Scotians are frugal people who instinctively understand that waste is ultimately immoral - a point which the GPI report underlines strongly.

Because nature's resources are limited, over-consumption in one time or place produces poverty elsewhere. Ultimately the First World can remain rich only by compelling the Third World to remain poor, and the present generation's prosperity must inevitably result in the impoverishment - or worse - of our descendants.

Hence the First World's unholy passion for free trade uber alles, unrestricted by social and environmental constraints. Such trade arrangements permit the wealthy to pillage the resources of distant places while exporting the burdens of development.

We get the sneakers and the stereos, while Asia and South America get the pollution, the child labour, the shanty towns. The weight of our footprint crushes people in very distant places.

The most difficult change will be in our attitudes. We cherish economic growth, as measured by an increasing Gross Domestic Product, but a rising GDP actually intensifies our problems. We view consumption as a badge of success, not as a symptom of social irresponsibility. We shun physical activity, and die of preventable diseases.

But GPI points out that we have shown ourselves capable of dramatic improvements. We reduced our solid waste footprint by 50 per cent in a decade, making Nova Scotia a world leader in recycling. Bear River has implemented award-winning sewage treatment facilities. Citizen effort is restoring our salmon streams. The Western Valley Development Authority is exploring wind-powered electrical generation.

The Nova Scotia Ecological Footprint is a provocative portrayal of our very own contributions to the global crisis. What we do with the information is up to us. But we can no longer say we didn't know.

Award-winning author Silver Donald Cameron lives in D'Escousse.

Next week, we'll look at what GPI Atlantic thinks those steps might be.

Award-winning author Silver Donald Cameron lives in D'Escousse.

Copyright © 2001 Silver Donald Cameron