U.S. and Canadian Environmental Groups Join Forces

After their first meeting outside Washington on June 2, the chief executives from 30 environmental groups on both sides of the border called for a moratorium on expansion of tar sands development and another moratorium on industrial fishing and development in the Arctic Ocean.

The environmental leaders discussed climate, energy and natural areas conservation issues. A declaration issued at the conclusion of their meeting recognizes "the integration of U.S. and Canadian economies and our mutual need for clean energy job creation."

Canada's Boreal forest (Photo courtesy NRDC)

"North American ingenuity" can solve many of the threats to the environment of both countries, the leaders declared.

Dr. Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence Canada based in Toronto, said, “It's never been clearer that economic solutions and environmental solutions are one and the same."

"Governments in both Canada and the U.S. must seize this opportunity to create good green jobs through innovative initiatives that move us quickly toward a new energy economy,” said Smith.

The groups will work in partnership during the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December that are expected to finalize an agreement limiting global greenhouse gas emissions to take effect after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

“The United States and Canada, with their closely linked financial markets and shared natural resources, must work together to create 21st century clean energy economies that will put people back to work and benefit our environment," said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S. group based in Washington.

The declaration urges the governments of both countries to "show bold leadership on the world stage, especially leading up to the Copenhagen climate meeting, and within each country through addressing climate change head-on."

"Many states, provinces and indigenous peoples are already showing leadership in tackling the threat to our climate system and implementing strong policies to protect it," the groups said.

"With federal climate legislation gaining momentum in the United States and some Canadian provinces taking important climate initiatives, now is the time for our two countries to come together as we seek international action on climate change. We hope our joint declaration can serve as a guide as we move to an international climate treaty later this year,” Beinecke said.

In their declaration, the environmental and conservation leaders called on their governments to:

• Incorporate climate science into policy and permitting decisions affecting natural resource management in order to best ensure that wildlife and natural systems can survive in a warming world.


• Declare a moratorium on expansion of tar sands development and halt further approval of infrastructure that would lock us into using dirty liquid fuels from sources such as tar sands, oil shale and liquid coal. Tar sands oil production is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas pollution in Canada and is having a devastating impact on Boreal ecosystems, migratory birds, and air and water quality. Pollution from production of fuels from tar sands, oil shale and liquid coal undermines gains made through fuel efficiency and other mechanisms meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.


• Strengthen investments in renewable energy and in energy efficiency and conservation through creating new clean energy jobs and increasing prosperity through new technologies. A continental commitment to enhanced energy efficiency and rapid expansion of renewable energy, that minimizes impact on the natural world, is critical. Moreover, energy security is best achieved through investment in the cleanest available energy and through ending our dependence on fossil fuels.


• Declare a moratorium on industrial fishing and development in the Arctic Ocean until there is a comprehensive scientific analysis incorporating the newest information on climate change impacts and until there is a system for integrated, precautionary ecosystem-based management of industrial activities.


• Work cooperatively with all Arctic countries and Peoples to curb all sources of pollution of the Arctic, including from land-based sources.


• Protect the North American Boreal Forest as one of the world’s last large intact wilderness forests and as a critical global carbon reservoir in its peatlands and forests.

• Margie Alt, Executive Director, Environment America
• Frances Beinecke, President, Natural Resources Defense Council
• Brent Blackwelder, President, Friends of the Earth
• John Flicker, President, National Audubon Society
• Robert Gruenig, Deputy Executive Director, National Tribal Environmental Council
• David Hoskins, Executive Director, Izaak Walton League
• Gene Karpinski, President, League of Conservation Voters
• Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund
• Daniel Magraw, President, Center for International Environmental Law
• William Meadows, President, The Wilderness Society
• Carl Pope, Executive Director, Sierra Club
• Phil Radford, Executive Director, Greenpeace
• Rodger Schlickeisen, President, Defenders of Wildlife
• Larry Schweiger, President & CEO, National Wildlife Federation
• John Seager, Executive Director, Population Connection
• Andrew Sharpless, Chief Executive Officer, Oceana
• Trip Van Noppen, President, Earthjustice
• Rand Wentworth, President, Land Trust Alliance
• Peter Wilk, Executive Director, Physicians for Social Responsibility
• Rebecca Wodder, President, American Rivers

• Rick Bates, Executive Director, Canadian Wildlife Federation
• Gerald Butts, President and CEO, WWF-Canada
• Bruce Cox, Executive Director, Greenpeace Canada
• Stephen Hazell, Executive Director, Sierra Club Canada
• Eric Hebert-Daly, National Executive Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
• Bob Oliver, Executive Director, Pollution Probe
• Devon Page, Executive Director, Ecojustice
• Marlo Raynolds, Executive Director, Pembina Institute
• Sidney Ribaux, Executive Director, Equiterre
• Peter Robinson, President, David Suzuki Foundation
• Graham Saul, Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada
• Rick Smith, Executive Director, Environmental Defence Canada

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