It seems to me that the European Union and Austria are far ahead of Environmental Protection and Conservation than Canada. Especially when it comes to Energy Consumption and Efficieny where Canada statiscally is just as wasteful as the United States. This may have to do with the fact that in some parts of Europe the environmental problems are more acute than Canada. However this shouldnt excuse Canadians from behaving like they will have a beautfiul environment forever if they are falling behind in terms of conservation. This goes beyond merely recycling.
People do care more here about the enivronment than they do in Canada it is visible here in everday life through the actions of people and the government. In fact for a very long time now Vienna has the distinction of being the national capital city with the most green space in the world. Vienna. The air is definetly much cleaner than Toronto, it is also visibly more cleaner in the downtown in general than Toronto-downtown. The other day I saw that the city of Vienna had erected some small solar panels in one part of the city to to supply power for parking meters (and something else which I was unsure as to what kind of machine it was)!. Also, there is no Nuclear Power here at all!, in 1972 there a nuclear power station was built, however in 1978 it was shut down when a National referendum returned a majority against it. More than 50% of Austria´s electricity needs is produced from hydropower and a further 30% from Renewable Energy sources (Solar, Wind, and Biomass power plants) with the remaining 20% from non-renewable oil and gas powerplants. My personal favourite fact about Austria is that it has the strictest laws governing Wine Production in the World!. There is no cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Austria. However, GMOs are allowed to be in certain imported agricultural products for feedstuffs which, which must then be labelled. People here are more concerned about their quality of life, which they are willing to pay the taxes for. I think this is a problem in Canada and with the city of Toronto in particular.
1 comment:
Good post! You are the first to blog that Canada is behind the times and it is good to have a new opinion. What I would ask for clarification on is how Europe is facing their environmental problems more acutely. I honestly don't know and am curious.
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