the Other Press by Marion Drakos OZONE: There is a 3% depletion of ozone over North America and a 50% depletion over the South Pole. Skin Cancer is on the rise and even if all use of ozone depleting chemicals were halted the ozone would still continue for a century because the chemical process that actually destroys ozone is slow. -GARBAGE: The average Canadian throws away 800 kilograms a year or 50,000 kilograms in their lifetime. People in Nigeria, Columbia and the Philippines produce less than 200 kilograms per FORESTS: Over 1/3 of the world’s rain forests have been destroyed and 11 million hectares a year are logged. Acid rain has destroyed more that 31 million hectares of trees. At the present rate of deforestation by 2020 little old-growth forests will be left. ANIMALS: Over the next 20 years 1/5 of all species of plants and animals will become extinct. Thousand’s of species a year are disappearing. Those that are not killed by pollution have been pushed to the brink of extinction by hunting. WATER: Over 25 million people a year die from dirty water. 80% of diseases in the third world are spread by con- taminated water. In almost every country in the third world more than half the population don’t have access to clean water. OCEANS: Tuna fishing in the easter Pacific kills an estimated 100,00 dolphins a year. More than 70 million tonnes of fish are caught every year and many fish stocks are dwindling. Oil spills, incinerator ships, toxic chemical and human waste are also responsible. The bodies of dead Beluga whales washing up in the St. Lawrence River must be treated as toxic waste because of the amount of chemicals absorbed by the animal. POLAR POLLUTION: The most fragile ecosystem in the world is the dumping ground for pollution. Contamination levels in polar bears, narwhal and plankton are rising and the same toxins are accumulating in the Northern Aboriginal Peoples who’s diets consist almost solely on the contaminated animals. ENERGY: Canada’s energy consumption is the highest in the rh ) O ) Page 5 _ Environment Pullout Section — j How We Are Killing Ourselves - world. Canadian carbon emissions can expect to rise to 52% in 2005 from the current 25%. By using all ready existing energy efficient cars, appliances and industrial processes Canada’s energy consumption could drop 18% over the next ~~ ACID RAIN: Almost 14,000 lakes in Canada are "dead" because of acid rain. A current clean up program in Canada will halve the emissions from smelters and power plants by 1994. The U.S. promises the halve emissions by 2000. WAR: The Vietnam war destroyed over 1,000,000 hectares of forest and another 2,000,000 where contaminated by Agent Orange and other chemical sprays. Over 25 million craters up to 30 meters wide dot the landscape in Vietnam. TOXINS: 1000 new chemicals are developed every day and over 70,000 are in everyday use. Most have never been adequately tested to see if they cause cancer. Pesticides and heavy metals leach into ground water and turn up in wells. In the Great Lakes there are more than 22 species of fish contaminated by toxins. GLOBAL WARMING: Between 4.5 and 5.5 billion tonnes of carbon is released into the atmosphere every year. The carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen 25% since 1850. Most of the pollution is from cars and factories in first world nations. Slash burning of rain forests release vast amounts of carbon in to the atmosphere. Groups Vow to Fight the Carnamah Desision by Marion Drakos According to environmental groups the provincial government’s decision to log the upper half of the Carmanah could lead to the destruction of the lower valley scheduled to become a park. Western Canadian Wilderness Committee director Derek Young feels that the run off from the upper val! -y could contain potentially damaging material from forestry Carmanah Decision Fails to Satisfy Either Side by Marion Drakos Both sides of the Carmanah Valley dispute were disap- pointed by the provincial governments decision to preserve on ° x = a e a — oS = > a e 3 2. a half the valley as parkland and log the other. "The issue is balance," said Forests Minister Claude Richmond on April 10 as he unveiled the future of the Carmanah watershed, home to some of the tallest trees in Canada. "We must ensure that harvesting does not threaten the old-growth spruce environment and we must also recognize the region’s economic needs." The lower half of 19 km watershed will become parkland while the upper valley will be logged. Most of the giant Sitka spruces conservationists rallied to save are lo-| - cated within the lower valley. According to Richmond "carefully controlled and monitored harvesting" of the upper watershed will protect the Sitkas in the lower watershed. Vice-president of MacMillan Bloedel, the company that owns logging rights in the Carmanah, Dale Tuckey calls the plan a "disappointing compromise." "The decision was based on politics not on good forest management or sustainable compromise," says Tuckey. The Western Canada Wilderness Committee also is not} satisfied with the decision to create a 3,592 hectare park. "It’s absolutely critical that we save whole watersheds in places like Carmanah and we’re going to pull out all the stops," committee director Paul George said. Chair of the Nuu-Chan-Nulth Tribal Council have threatened legal action to halt the intended logging. Based on Indian land claims the Tribal Council has halted logging before in disputed areas including Meares Island. - PLEASE RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER operations by the time it reached the lower area. "We don’t think that the valley can survive over a long period of time by having harvested in the upper valley," Young said. "The upper valley is extremely precipitous. We have a tremendous amount of water come down that (Carmanah) creek, and I think ultimately what we’re doing by allowing the harvesting of the upper valley is to ultimately spell the doom of the park reserve area that’s been set aside." Spokesperson for the Sierra Club Vicky Husband calls the government decision "unacceptable" despite the condi- tion that further studies are required. "They say they are going to have studies, but they’re already making a decision to log half the valley." Heather Broughton of Share Our Forests says the governments plan is "a victory for common sense and a victory for non-confrontational public process." Originally MacMillan Blodel planned to log the entire 6,650 - hectare watershed. Are You Listening? by Marion Drakos Everyone’s talking about the environment these days. It’s "fashionable" to be "green. Supermarkets are labelling things as "GREEN" and "ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY". Nobody seem’s to notice that these "GREEN" products are wrapped in plastic and contain pesticides. Governments are claiming to “care for the environ- ment" and are investigating concerns that ten years ago, when told by environment groups what was happening, they laughed at. And these same governments continue to allow trade with countries that pollute and hunt endangered animals. Magazines and newspapers are running environment column and producing pullout sections and accept ads from companies that are driving the nails into our own coffins as they spew out toxins from smoke stacks. Everyone’s talking about the environment but how many are listening?