Introduction

The earth’s condition has been deteriorating since the industrial revolution (Hails). Global warming, pollution, peak oil, ozone layer depletion and many others have become household terms. The most famous international environmentally friendly protocol, the Kyoto protocol, has been signed for 8 years. Yet, not only has Canada failed to meet its goal of reducing 6% of carbon dioxide emissions from the 1990 level, but instead, is has actually gone up 24% (CBC News). Our current ecological footprint analysis tells us that for everyone in the world to live a Canadian lifestyle-that is with large sprawling urban areas and more than one car per family-we need the total resources of 4.2 Earths (the ecological footprint per capita in Canada is 7.6 hectares when the biocapacity is 1.8 hectares) (Hails). Although words such as sustainability or ecological footprint are tossed around, by most people, casually and without real meaning, I believe it has come to a time when these terms should be treated by all with serious respect and, accordingly, take action to help prevent a global crisis happening. Where should we start? By thinking and being sustainable.