2 Monday, October 20, 2008
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Volume 35, Issue 7
“We are experiencing an ecological crisis”
Photo/Matthew Filipowich
David Suzuki capped off The Green Experience with a lecture that encouraged students to get involved in the environmental movement...before it’s too late.
FIONA BUCHANAN The Students for Sustainability Campus Tour hit UTM’s CCT building on October 16, generating much excitement over headliners David Suzuki and George Stroumboulopoulos. The tour was the product of a joint collaboration of The Canadian Federation of Students, along with the Sierra Youth Coalition, and the David Suzuki Foundation. UTM was the halfway mark of their twenty-one stop tour over thirty days. The goal of the campaign was to encourage students to act now in reducing waste, commodification, and emissions in order for a sustainable planet for the future. Hosted by UTMSU, this was the final event in the three-day Green Experience. Volunteers from the UTMSU Ministry of Environment were present to help answer questions, direct people, and collect tickets. “This is related to my [future] career and I really love doing this,” said Alexander Ramessar, a volunteer from the ministry who also co-ordinated two nature walks on Tuesday. “This [event] is probably one of the biggest things that has happened at UTM. David Suzuki is one of the pillars of environmental awareness. With the
way things are going with climate change, we are trying to get more people on board. And having people like David Suzuki come out here to UTM really brings attention and focus to the problems” added Ramessar. Katherine Giroux-Bougard, national chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, urged students to make sustainability a top priority. “Over the past few years, students have been working with transit corporations, community groups, municipalities, and their own institutions to raise awareness and make a difference. But we still have a lot of work to do,” said Giroux-Bougard. “The only way we will effectively solve the climate crisis is by getting our elected leaders to implement policies and pass laws that promote a sustainable energy plan and support energy efficiency.” UTM was introduced to the professional Ironman triathlete and two-time champion of the 50km Ultra Marathon Championships, Brendan Brazier, whose diet is one hundred per cent plant-based. Brazier discussed the harmful effects of factory faming and the impact of food choices on the environment. “Seventy per cent of the food we grow is not for humans. It’s for animals. I found it takes seven to nine pounds of wheat to get one pound of
meat. Obviously there is a huge energy loss there,” commented Brazier. Brazier emphasized that people have the power to make a difference by simply modifying their eating habits. “When you feed them [cows] something that they are not designed to eat, it creates gas and methane. In 2006, a report came out that said that methane is twenty-five times more damaging to the environment than CO2 from cars. The report went on to say that the animal livestock industry actually creates more greenhouse gasses than all transportation.” Dr. David Suzuki was received with an enthusiastic applause but he brought an urgent and alarming message to UTM students. “It’s not just climate. We are experiencing an ecological crisis. We are using the air, water and land as a garbage can. If we continue logging as we are now, in twenty years there won’t be any large intact forests left on the planet. If we don’t do anything [about these issues] by the end of the century, eighty per cent of mammals will be gone,” warned Suzuki. “You’ve just watched for six weeks the federal election campaign. Have you felt any emergency about this? We’re undermining the very life support systems of the planet, and this hasn’t even been on the Harper agenda
for two years,” he added. Suzuki criticised the structure of the economy, saying that society takes natural resources for granted. “It is the earth that allows us to have a living economy, but we think that we have created this thing, this economy, and that allows us to have a living. This system that we have invented is so defective that it is inevitably destructive of the very things that keep us alive.” The lecture closed with a message of what students can do. “How many hundreds of thousands of students are there across Canada? Do you not think you could gather in Ottawa and demand that we begin to look at sustainability within a generation and to start on all of the things that have to be done? It’s your future, please let’s get going on it,” preached Suzuki. George Stroumboulopoulos did not attend. His agent called shortly before the event to cancel. Stroumboulopoulos had attended another event as part of the sustainability tour at the Ryerson University, but skipped engagements at UTM and York University. Suzuki’s speech however more than sufficed in inspiring the crowd. “I love how he created options for students to voice their opinions on how to make a difference for the environment,” said student Vickita Bhatt.
Sunil Singh, a second year political science and history major, said he found the lecture enlightening. “In the political science program we don’t talk enough about economics or the environment, and I think that it should be an integral part of politics.” Suzuki urged students to get involved to protect the planet, to preserve it within their lifetimes, and to sustain it for future generations. “Students cannot afford not to get involved.” UTMSU VP Marijana Josifovska was happy with the Green Experience and the David Suzuki event in particular. “The Green Experience was a huge success and the lecture with Dr. Suzuki was an excellent way to end the week. When word came out that David Suzuki was coming to UTM it created a lot of stir and excitement. Seeing an environmental icon was an amazing experience. To know that students, community members, staff and faculty left that evening feeling inspired to be more environmentally sustainable really makes all our effort into this event worthwhile.”
For more Green Experience coverage, see page 3