One hundred years ago this month, on Sept. 1, 1914, the world’s last passenger pigeon died. The species was once North America’s most common bird species, with flocks numbering in the hundreds of millions that would darken the sky for hours, but remorseless hunting and habitat destruction by humans pushed the passenger pigeon to extinction within less than a century.
The passenger pigeon is one of many species that have gone extinct in modern times due primarily to human activities, including the Carolina parakeet, the Tasmanian tiger, the great auk, and the Pyrenean ibex and dozens of lesser-known species. Hundreds more are at risk of extinction, greatly imperiling the planetary biodiversity that has developed over hundreds of millions of years.
Biodiversity isn’t simply something that’s nice to have. It’s an integral component of healthy, functional ecosystems that perform the many services required by humans and other forms of life — pollinating crops, cleaning air, enriching soil, regulating the hydrological cycle, and modulating climate, to name a few. The human race has affected the planet, perhaps irreversibly, but we have a responsibility to mitigate those effects as much as possible to guarantee the preservation of the highest level of biodiversity possible.
The current Canadian government is failing miserably on this front.
Climate change is, by most accounts, the biggest risk to global biodiversity, and Canada is worse than a laggard in mitigating climate change. We’re an anchor, and the Conservative government seems to be actively preventing internationally binding deals that would decrease greenhouse gas emissions and hopefully interrupt global warming before it becomes irreversible. These actions preserve global markets for Canada’s gas and oil exports, but the short-term economic gains from those resource exports are almost certain to pale in comparison to the long-term economic costs that largely unchecked climate change will force on society.
Canada reneged on its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and this government has steadfastly refused to join any agreements that would lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. There has been no serious discussion of even a bipartisan agreement with the United States, the main market for Canadian energy exports and a country whose reluctance in approving projects like the Keystone XL pipeline seems to stem from concern about Canada’s insufficient commitment to greenhouse gas reductions.
On that topic, Canada seems to have no greater champion for the unfettered extraction of oil and gas than the prime minister himself. In order to move forward with his “won’t-take-no-for-an-answer” approach to oil sands development in Alberta, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has gutted or repealed many environmental protections in the country — including the Fisheries Act, the Navigable Waters Protection Act, and the Environmental Assessment Act — in order to streamline the approvals process for major energy projects. Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline is a prime example, a project to transport diluted bitumen from Alberta to the Pacific coast for export to Asian markets. The risk that Northern Gateway poses to the land and marine environments it connects are tremendous, yet the government approved it (albeit provisionally) in June of this year.
The current federal government has weakened the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, ceased federal funding for the Experimental Lakes Area research station, prevents federally funded scientists from discussing their research with the media, brands environmentalists as ideological radicals, and severely hampers the activities of environmental charities by singling them out for extensive (and costly) Canada Revenue Agency audits.
Strong international leadership is required if we’re going to ensure that no more species go the way of the passenger pigeon. Canada, as a country blessed with an almost unparalleled bounty of natural assets, should be at the forefront of the fight against climate change instead of working against it.
Peter Raaymakers lives in Ottawa.