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More than a hundred of you answered our call to put together a wish list in honour of UN World Environment Day on June 5.
So, what would you like to see?
More encouragement for local organic agriculture.
More green space in your cities.
Leaders who incorporate environmental issues into their vision of development.
You sent us a lot of amazing wishes – thank you. Here are some of our favourite:
- The end of synthetic plastics. (Anonymous)
- A revolution in town and city planning in Quebec to reduce dependence on cars. (Anonymous)
- More alternative styles of housing in Montreal that expand people's idea of what "greenbuilding" can look like (ecoarchitecture) and a showcase home open to the public where people can explore the different options available. (Anonymous)
- More pedestrianized streets in Montreal. (Anonymous)
- Lise Guilbeault hopes that the government will not charge too much for permits for organic and vegetable livestock farmers. She also would like to see labels for GMO foods, or perhaps even for non-GMO foods, as that would take less time.
- Lyse-Andrée Dubé would like for organic farmers to always have organic seeds and not those imposed by Monsanto.
- Robert Duchesne would like to see the green spaces in his city and all cities in the country covered with vegetable gardens rather than grass grown at great environmental cost.
- Marie-France Despatie would like her city to become a model of protection, enhancement and sustained reflection for a healthy environment, notably by stopping building homes on our lovely farmland and by protecting the canopy of trees as well as our wetlands.
- Karine Doiron would like to make water accessible to all humans on the planet and protect it from contamination.
- Marie-Christine Gabillet would like to ban pesticides and save our lakes.
- Annick Clairin would like to preserve biodiversity.
- Fanny Otis would like to plant trees.
- Patrick Paine would like Quebec to become an environmental leader.
- Maggie B. would like the Harper government to finally listen to Canadians.
- Hélène Doyon would like to see more people become aware of the importance of the environment and would like to see the executives who run our corporations defend the environment.
- Josée Prénoveau would like to see the moratorium on shale gas development be maintained.
- Aimé Morin would like citizens to ask the government of Quebec to adopt a Quebec Charter of the Environment based on proposals put forward by the province's environmental groups.
- Jean-Bernard Guindon would like to see business leaders who makes decisions that affect our quality of life take the environment into greater account.
- Sylvie Ferland would like to make it easier and more rewarding for individuals to make the choice to reduce waste, transportation expenses, etc. She would like Quebec to stop making light of the risks of our actions as a society. Instead, she would like Quebec to become a leader in encouraging behaviours for a healthy environment.
- Gaétan Beauce would like for humans to have collective intelligence like ants.
- Gérard Leboeuf would like the world's children to be able to live their lives in peace and free from environmental dangers.
- France Martin would like humans to recover from their amnesia and finally remember that they are a part of nature rather than separate from it.
- Huguette Picard would like to see everyone feel concerned, and believes that our actions, no matter how small, change the world.
- Gaëtane Breton would like to bequeath a beautiful and healthy earth for future generations.
- Élyse Desbiens-Després would like to see municipal compost collection become a reality across Quebec.
- Rose Burelle would like it to be easier for her, as an 81-year-old woman suffering from arthritis, to compost her own food waste.
- Catherine Lévesque would like to reduce or even eliminate food waste in all parts of the chain, from production to our fridge.
- Christine Herbreteau would like to put an immediate stop to devastating plans for Anticosti.
- Sylvain Leclerc wishes that there would finally be a real political will, beginning right here in Canada, to put real efforts in place for the development of alternative and renewable energy, and to decrease, slowly but surely, our dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels.
- Ève Lessard would like all people to be aware of their environmental footprint.
- Michel Rolland would like everyone, young and old, to find a thought or action each day that is within their reach to help improve our environment.
- Sylvie Pinel would like us to seriously reduce our consumption of meat.
- Réal would like measures of economic growth to take into account the environmental footprint of each sector of the economy.
- Huguette would like education and prevention programs in grade-three classrooms on health and the environment that would also involve parents. Children and their parents must be made aware very early on of what they eat and of the impacts this has on their health.
- Louise Fortin sees turning away from the tar sands as an absolute priority. She is also worried about oil development on Anticosti Island. Instead of investing in exploration there, she would rather see more money go to promoting electric vehicles (buses, small vehicles for municipal maintenance crews, assistance programs for the purchase of electric cars, etc.).
Thank you everyone for the great suggestions. Don't give up until your dreams become a reality!
