The science is clear that the vast majority of fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground to avoid climate chaos. But the oil industry wants to triple production of the tar sands, already Canada’s fastest growing source of global warming pollution. We published a report showing that Canada cannot meet its climate commitments if tar sands production grows. We also hosted Carbon Tracker’s James Leaton, who highlighted the financial risks of investing in the tar sands as the world gets serious about climate action. And we released a report showing that expansion of the tar sands is far from inevitable due to barriers like growing public opposition and the volatility of oil prices. Indeed, the year saw oil prices tumble, followed by several major projects being delayed or shelved, including the Joslyn North mine, Statoil’s Corner project and Shell’s Pierre River Mine.

We continued to raise awareness about risky pipelines like Energy East that would enable tar sands expansion. We hosted Exposing Energy East, an exhibit featuring photographs of landscapes and portraits of people at risk from this mega-pipeline. We published a report showing that up to 90 per cent of Energy East’s oil would be exported unrefined, bringing few permanent jobs. Our cheeky video, Great Canadian Migrations, used humour to draw attention to the environmental risks of the pipeline. And we participated in Ontario Energy Board hearings, where concerned citizens across the province voiced their opposition to this risky project. We saw that public opposition can make a difference, when TransCanada abandoned its plan for a terminal in Cacounca, QC which would have threatened belugas in the St. Lawrence.

We continued to help build a growing movement of Canadians saying no to risky fossil fuels. At events like the People’s Climate March in New York City and the Act on Climate March in Quebec City, we helped citizens raise their voices to say no to tar sands and yes, to clean safe modern energy.

At ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE, we know Canadians understand that we don’t need to choose between a healthy environment and a healthy economy. We can and must have both.

That’s why we released a report, which sized up Ontario’s climate challenge and laid out a road map outlining how Ontario could meet that challenge and stimulate the economy. We also helped launch the Clean Economy Alliance, a grouping of over 80 organizations — including business, labour, health charities, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and environmental groups — that came together to support Ontario’s commitment to develop a climate change strategy and put a price on carbon. The Alliance has agreed to a set of principles to guide Ontario’s cap-and-trade program and will be developing recommendations for Ontario’s climate strategy. We also continued to work with our clean economy partners, Blue Green Canada, to push for environmental solutions that create jobs.

Next Steps

We’ll keep helping Canadians speak out against reckless plans to expand the tar sands and the risky pipelines that enable that expansion. We’ll continue to raise awareness of the environmental impacts of the tar sands, including leaking toxic tailings ponds. We’ll work with industries and governments to develop new ways to reduce global warming pollution and shift to renewable energy. And we’ll continue to lead the effort to build a clean economy, powered by safe, modern renewable energy.

That’s because we have worked effectively over the past 10 years to reduce Canadians’ exposure to suspected cancer-causing and hormone-disrupting chemicals found in every day products on store shelves.

Over the years, our lab tests have found toxic chemicals in the cord blood of newborn babies, heavy metals in makeup, triclosan in Canadians’ bodies, and harmful ingredients in men’s body care products. We also successfully advocated to get BPA out of baby bottles and phthalates out of children’s toys in Canada.

To kick off our next decade of toxic crusading, we decided to take a closer look at the cleaning products Canadians use. For our study, 14 volunteers from Toronto, Montreal and Cobalt cleaned their kitchens for 30 minutes using popular conventional cleaning products, certified green products, or products with unverifiable green claims. While the volunteers cleaned, we tested the air in their homes for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).

In June, we published the findings of this first-of-its-kind research in our report: The Dirty Truth: How toxic cleaning products are putting Canadians at risk. What did we find? The volunteers who used conventional cleaners saw a startling 120 per cent increase in VOCs in their indoor air. VOCs are linked to serious health impacts such as asthma and lower IQs in developing fetuses.

The report received media coverage across the country. It also made it clear that it’s time for government and industry to clean these products up. Because the last thing Canadians should worry about when fighting grime, is fighting for their health.

Our toxics work is more than just testing products. We also educate the public, so they are able to choose safer, non-toxic options. We provide tips and tools so Canadians can protect themselves from toxic chemicals, no matter where they work, live, or play.

In November, we hosted, in partnership with a number of scientific and academic groups, Risky Business: Hormones, Frogs & You — an evening with Dr. Tyrone Hayes at the University of Toronto. During the talk, the UC Berkeley professor spoke about his experience researching endocrine-disrupting chemicals, the challenges he faced when he tried to share his findings, and how this relates to current debates surrounding the relationship between science and industry.

University and college students across the country also helped to spread the word about how toxic chemicals can impact Canadians’ health. Thanks to the support of the J. W. McConnell Family Foundation, our Kick the Toxics off Campus Initiative provided students with mentorship and funding to run their own toxics campaigns at their schools. The initiative saw the involvement from students from OCAD University, York University, St. Francis Xavier University, and Niagara College.

From university campuses, we then headed to beauty schools and salons around Toronto. Hair stylists, makeup artists, and estheticians are particularly vulnerable to toxic exposures in their workplaces because of the harsh chemicals they work with. We provided students and professionals with information about what toxic chemicals are hiding in various cosmetic products, and how they can affect the health of salon workers, and the health of their clients and the environment. Thank you to Live Green Toronto for making this program possible.

Next Steps

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE is working to get new regulations passed in Ontario that would label products containing carcinogens or reproductive toxicants, so consumers know what’s in a product before they buy it. We will also continue our work to educate consumers, and to work with companies and government to strengthen policies to better protect Canadians’ health.

We published a report, Ontario’s Greenbelt Under Threat, to inform Ontarians about the risky plans for a redundant airport, an unnecessary highway proposal and the dumping of contaminated soil on Greenbelt land. And we released a map showing the alarming rate that prime farmland in southern Ontario is being paved over.

We also released a report highlighting that compact growth is better for the finances of residents and municipalities. In the report, we shared examples of smart growth planning, such as in Kitchener, where compact growth is being planned along a new light rail line. And we called for recommendations, such as freezing urban boundaries and increasing intensity targets, to prevent more sprawl and createmore transit-friendly, walkable, vibrant communities thatmore of us actually want to live in.

We continued to speak up about the weak federal Rouge National Urban Park legislation that fails to establish nature conservation as the priority in park management and ignores provincial, national and international standards for protected areas.We continued to push for the passing of legislation in Ontario to protect citizens from harassing lawsuits aimed at silencing public debate.

Through our work with the Cornerstone Standards Council, we helped launch the world’s first voluntary sustainable aggregate standard.

NEXT STEPS

We will help Ontario residents make their voices heard about the need for strengthening and improving the Greenbelt and Growth Plans. We will highlight the risks of the proposed Highway 413, which threatens to pave over farms, forests and rivers. And we’ll keep working with municipalities across the Greater Golden Horseshoe that want to grow the Greenbelt.

The Great Lakes are continuing to face increasing threats such as plastic pollution, toxic algal blooms and invasive species like Asian carp. To help address these problems, in February, the Ontario government re-introduced the Great Lakes Protect Act (GLPA), which included several of our recommendations. Our work didn’t stop there. During the year, we also collaborated with U.S. organizations to find solutions to the intense and frequent algal blooms plaguing Lake Erie during the summer.

Through our Blue Flag program, we worked with communities across the country to ensure our beaches and marinas are clean, safe and sustainably managed. This year, we raised flags at four more beaches and marinas: Gimli Beach (Gimli, MB), Bell Park Beach (Sudbury, ON), City of Barrie Marina (Barrie, ON) and LaSalle Park Marina (Burlington, ON). To be awarded a Blue Flag, beaches and marinas have to meet strict international standards.

To raise awareness about the need to protect our shorelines, last summer the Blue Flag program hosted a beach cleanup event at Toronto’s Sunnyside Beach in Toronto, one of the few beaches in the city without a Blue Flag. The event, sponsored by Corona, saw 150 volunteers take part.

Next Steps

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE is working to strengthen the protection of our water and reduce pollution by getting a strong Great Lakes Protection Act passed. To address harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, we will continue to promote solutions for reducing nutrient pollution, particularly in the agricultural sector.

We will also continue to increase the number of Blue Flag beaches and marinas across the country to provide more Canadians with clean and safe places to swim.