Environmental Crimes

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Introduction

The environment around us is what supports life on this planet. Everything is part of a cycle, and those cycles are integrated and complex. Each of these cycles is on a delicate balance, and any minor adjustments of this balance will result in the re-organizing of the cycle. These adjustments can range from being a minimal change in overall temperature, to the removing of tress, resulting in stress and change to the landscape.

These adjustments have been happening constantly throughout the revolution of man. But not until the industrial revolution came along have there been as many changes in our environment, mostly put on by the industries that have yielded new consumer goods. The changes have come without studying the effects the environment we live in and on ourselves. During recent years we have been minding more of the business brought onto us by these rapid alterations to the natural environment, and many people have become concerned as to what can be done to reverse, or at least ensure that the contamination does not continue.

The governments position on many items has been debatable. The situations include; the Temagami forestry debate, where logging is set to begin, despite many public objections. The same is happening in British Columbia, near Clayoquot Sound where they are clear cut logging all of the temperate rain forest. The Sydney tar ponds, where dozens of families have been at risk for many years, because of the contamination a nearby coke ovens and the Walkerton tainted water scandal in which documents were supposedly falsified, to bring a false sense of confidence in their drinking water.

Custom Essays on Environmental Crimes

The Canadian government has always had some type of regulation governing the industries and what type of pollutants they can release into the environment, and how much of each. Even though they have been taking a stand against pollution, they need to further intensify their position. This will have to be in a fair and democratic way, while continuing to ensure the economic balance that this country is sitting on right now. This will satisfy the large companies seemingly large greed for money, and the normal persons need to live a healthy and prosperous life, without pollution affecting them, and also with natural areas to retreat to.

Background

Temagami, which is located one hour north of North Bay, Ontario has been one of those disasters that the government has just not done a terribly great job on regulating. The town is a small one of about 1400 people1 with deep roots of Native Canadians living there. At the heart of the dispute is two forest blocks, the size of 17 000 football fields . This dispute has been ongoing for more than two decades now.

It started back in the 180s when the Red Squirrel road was created as a logging road to allow access into the heart of Temagami for logging. This sparked concern in the heart of many environmentalists, as the government had given out clear cutting permits. Clear cutting, unlike the traditional picking of certain trees, is done by machine, wipes out an entire forest and its biodiversity.

Clear cutting causes two kinds of fundamental damage, one long lasting, the other permanent. The long lasting damage is to the soil, the permanent damage is to the biological diversity.

Temagami Forestation MapEarthroots http//www.earthroots.org/Temagami/temmap.gif

In the map above, you can see the two areas planned for cutting, and block 0, which is planned for clear cutting. The Ontario government maintains that the forest stands in blocks , 0 and 46 scheduled for harvest in the 00-0 Annual Work Schedule were approved in the 1-01 Temagami Forest Management Plan (FMP). These blocks were subject to a full and Comprehensive consultation process, which included input from public, local citizens, First Nation, industry and environmental organizations through information centres, advertisements and mail-outs. The FMP fully conforms to land use decisions detailed in the Temagami Land Use Plan (TLUP). 4 Although these cuts do conform to the TLUP, they contradict the Ministry of Naturals Resources (MNR) own guidelines, specifying that clear cuts should be no larger than 60 hectares set in 14 by the Environmental Assessment Board. The Ministry of the Environment (MoE) is now investigating the MNR in terms of the practice of handing out clear cutting permits. The Environmental Assessment Act allows for larger than 60 hectare cuts if for biological or environmental reasons, but they believe the MNR are abusing these exceptions.

Timber Regulations, 1

11. Where a permit holder cuts and removes timber in excess of the amount set out in the permit, the permit holder shall pay to the Receiver General, by cheque or cash, fees calculated by a forestry officer pursuant to section 6 on the amount of that timber that exceeds the permitted amount.

This also seems to be the case in British Columbia where clear cutting has been the way of trimming down the temperate rain forest on the west coast, brimming against the pacific. These types of forests have been identified by the World Resource Institute as the most endangered forest type on this planet. The forest in BC alone houses one-quarter of the worlds remaining ancient temperate forest.5 The Clayoquot Sound area has been occupied by the Nuu-chah-nulth people for over 5000 years. Over the last century, things have been changing around that area. Since the 60s over 5% of the areas rain forest had been cut down, using the clear-cut method. In one case the Forest Minister was sent to jail for accepting a bribe for a tree farm license, but yet that license was never revoked.

Hectares of forest harvested around Canada

18 1

Total harvested Clear cut Total harvested Clear cut

Hectares

Canada 1,0,8 0,0 1,05,4 15,715

Quebec 6,46 84,55 84,08 5,60

Ontario ,7 07,814 01,5 10,44

Alberta 51,470 51,410 4,10 4,10

British Columbia 176,14 166,46 176,1 16,67

Yukon 448 448 x x

Northwest Territories 547 547 547 547

x Data unavailable, not applicable or confidential.

Source Natural Resources Canada, Compendium of Canadian Forestry Statistics, 000.

http//www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/envir0.htm

There have been many fights as to whom the land of Clayoquot Sound belongs to. The native people believe it should belong to them, and that they should have the rights to issue logging and various other permits. They claimed the land in the mid 180s as their Tribal Park.

Although the government knew this land use was under discussion, they would use a technique talked talk and log to log the designated forest while its use in the future, or designation as native land was being discussed at the table. The problem, according to the provincial government, was that this timber was the source of many jobs in British Columbia. Although this maybe true, B.C. generates only 1.01 jobs per thousand cubic metres of wood harvested, compared to .0 jobs in Sweden and .6 jobs per thousand cubic metres in the United States.6 This would indicate that the problem is not the lack of logging, but the mechanization of logging practices and the export of raw logs to other places.

In Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canadas worst toxic site remains. This place is known as the Sydney tar ponds, a place where coke ovens for the now defunct Sydney Steel Company used to sit. Coke ovens were used in order to burn off all the impurities in coal, so that the coal would be turned into a higher-grade coal, in order to burn hotter for the steel operations.

Over the years many types and amounts of chemicals have spilt into the so-called tar ponds. Chemicals such as benzene have being leaking out of tanks for years. There are miles and miles of pipes running underneath the old mill, which could potentially still house toxic chemicals. People living around the mill, have had massive headaches, and breathing difficulties. They say that when it rains, the puddles sometimes turn a fluorescent green.

The Government of Nova Scotia, and the city have been trying to clean up the site for a long time. In the late 60s the Nova Scotia government bought the Sydney Steel Company after the previous owners had shut it down. They continued to use the coke ovens, basically creating their own future problems, without any restrictions placed on the plant. They had at one point, built an incinerator to burn off all the accumulation of some 700,000 tonnes of chemical waste and raw sewage, 40,000 tonnes of which are PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls).7 This incinerator was designed to vacuum up the sludge from the ponds and burn it off at high temperatures to ensure that all chemicals were broken down into their parent molecules.

Cleaning up the tar ponds and the other contaminated areas within the Muggah Creek watershed is not only a regional issue, but deserves a national response- the Honorable Sergio Marchi, federal Minister of the Environment

The incinerator was later abandoned, because of too many technical difficulties. The incinerator was supposed to make over 00 jobs, the number turned out to be fewer than thirty.

The Canadian government has just issued a report in late October, written by the auditor general, saying that the government needs to work on cleaning up many toxic sites around the country. The bill is supposed exceed $ billion.8

The next example is perhaps one of the biggest mistakes in governmental record keeping in Canadian history, further pointing out that the government needs to take a bigger stand against issues like this.

The city of Walkerton, Ontario is located in Bruce County near Lake Huron. It all started on Monday May 15th, 000. The local water public utilities commission (PUC) had received notice that that days water sample had had e-coli detected in it. On Friday May 1th, the local hospital informed the Ministry of Health (MoH) that they had several cases of bloody diarrhea. The MoH then went to the PUC and asked if they had any reported e-coli in the system. The PUC denied that they had detected any e-coli in the water, so the MoH continued to look for contamination elsewhere, such as food. http//cbc.ca/news/indepth/walkerton/timeline.html

The scandal continued; residents were told not to drink the tap water; water was shipped in from all around the continent, as in the above picture. In the end the manager of the water utilities was held responsible for the ordeal, knowingly allowing the water to enter peoples home, and for the death of 7 people.

The problem in Walkerton was that the groundwater from cattle fields had drained off into the wells, as e-coli originates in a cows intestine. An inquiry was launched and came to the following conclusions

Up to 400 illnesses could have been prevented if water manager Stan Koebel had monitored the chlorine levels daily and had notified authorities right away that the water was contaminated.

The Ontario government failed to make reporting of positive tests for contamination mandatory when water testing was privatized in 16.

Government cuts at the provinces Environment Ministry made it less capable of identifying and dealing with problems at Walkertons water utility.

The local health unit was quick to respond to the crisis with a boil-water advisory, but it should have been more widespread. Many Walkerton residents were not aware of the warning.

The following is an excerpt from the Drinking Water Act 00

drinking water means,

(a) water intended for human consumption, or

(b) water that is required by an Act, regulation, order, municipal by-law or other document issued under the authority of an Act,

(i) to be potable, or

(ii) to meet or exceed the requirements of the prescribed drinking water quality standards; (eau potable)

Taken from the Ministry of the Environment website 10

Recommendations

1. The government of Canada and all the provinces should become more concerned with the banning of clear cutting techniques used in forestry today. We have been lead to believe that there are no such techniques going on today, but that is far from the truth.

The government maintains that clear cutting simulates the effects of a

forest fire, which are not allowed to burn as often any more, because of

Greater techniques to monitor them. This is untrue as the heat from forest fires opens cones to allow them to spread their seeds, leaves some living trees behind to hold the soil together and allows ashes to be left behind, which encourages new growth. The clear cutting technique does not allow for any of that to happen, but instead creates fragmented groves of trees, with a definite end wall that is then attacked by wind and water. The soil is compacted by heavy machinery, which does not allow for new plants to grow. This technique is out-dated and should be outlawed.

The newer selective tree forestry technique is what should be implemented. This technique involves selectively choosing trees to be harvested, thereby leaving tress to continue growing and keep a cover over the forest for protection against the elements. It also does not allow for heavy machinery to be introduced into the forest, thus no compaction of the soil will occur. This technique creates a larger number of jobs, due to the fact that there is no mechanization, that men must go in and use chainsaws to cut the trees, and that they must be pulled out of the forest one at a time.

. Old growth and such forests, which are rare and not many are left surviving around the world, should be protected. Such examples include the temperate rain forest on the British Columbia coast, which has been scheduled many times to be cut down. But many protestors have managed to halt the logging, but have not yet successfully managed to have the forest protected on a full time basis. I believe that the Canadian government should introduce legislation to protect these types of forests. The legislation should create a type of National Park, which would not be allowed to be touched, or have anything substantial built upon it.

There are a few old growth forests left in the province of Ontario, which should be protected. They have recently discovered a cedar, which is believed to be over 500 years old, and something of that age has the right to be protected. This recommendation goes along with the one above, even if they decide to cut, I believe an area such as one of these should only be selectively cut, thereby preserving some of the old age trees. We have not been able to see how long trees can grow, as we have cut all the old ones down.

. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice- Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

This is one of the rights we are guaranteed as part of being a Canadian citizen. But the people that die as the result of one persons judgment in the Walkerton water scandal had their right to life taken away from them. This I believe is a major violation, and I believe that the person should have held more accountable that he was.

Water is a vital part of our system, and ecological balance. We are made up of approximately 60% water. Without proper techniques and people in charge of our water, society will crumble. The Province of Ontario should be responsible for all testing of our drinking water ensuring that everything is safe. This would ensure that we have the same requirements all across the province. The inspectors should be certified by some outside agency, and should be re-tested every year. The reports should be released to the public, and the public educated on how to read the results. If they are any doubt in anyones mind, there should be a commission that would investigate the claims.

Although the new Drinking Water Act 00 touches on some of these examples, I do not believe it goes far enough to protect especially the rural community where water might not be there top priority, therefore increasing the risk another Walkerton happening.

4. Education is the key in this recommendation. We need to keep people educated on what is going on in the environment around and which parts of that are bad, and must stop, and which parts are tolerable, and are okay practices to continue.

People have to realize what is happening and how they are affecting and a lot of the time, helping out the negative effect. There needs to be some kind of way to show people what their towns may look like if they do not stop the pollution, or the logging, or the careless driving causing global warming. It must be shoved right in their faces, before they will do anything about it.

The government needs to take a greater stand on what each individual person does, not just the industries. Promoting energy saving appliances can do this, and other tools such as composters, by offering a government backed means of financial reimbursement. This will encourage the individual to help the environment by becoming involved.

Conclusion

The governments position on many items has been debatable. The situations include; the Temagami forestry debate, where logging is set to begin, despite many public objections. The same is happening in British Columbia, near Clayoquot Sound where they are clear cut logging all of the temperate rain forest. The Sydney tar ponds, where dozens of families have been at risk for many years, because of the contamination a nearby coke ovens and the Walkerton tainted water scandal in which documents were supposedly falsified, to bring a false sense of confidence in their drinking water.

Current Canadian laws and regulations in this area do not seem to go far enough to help the environment in the degree that is needed to replenish what we have already taken. The word is now out that we are at the point of no return, where if we do not begin to fix the problem very soon, there will be no way possible to fix it at a later date. We have to begin to restrict ourselves, both in our personal life, and with the industries we work in before we hit rock bottom.

Personally I believe there is a great movement in the youth of today towards this trend of helping the planet. Between the protests in Temagami, to the letters being written to the local and provincial governments right here at home, I think the youth of today is heading in the right direction. Yes they may call them tree huggers, but wouldnt you rather be called a tree hugger than a tree killer? Please note that this sample paper on Environmental Crimes is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on Environmental Crimes, we are here to assist you. Your persuasive essay on Environmental Crimes will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.

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