Council of Canadians

Clean Air For Children Campaign

http://www.canadians.org/View petition at:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-drive--throughs-in-canada

About Us

Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the country. We work to protect Canadian independence by promoting progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, energy security, public health care, and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians.

We develop creative campaigns to put some of the country’s most important issues into the spotlight. We work with a network of over 70 volunteer chapters to organize speaking tours, days of action, conferences and demonstrations. We also produce research reports, create popular materials, and work with individuals and organizations across the country and around the world. We do all of this to ensure that governments know the kind of Canada we want.

The Council does not accept money from corporations or governments, and is sustained entirely by the volunteer energy and financial assistance of its members.

This Joint Call To Action Is Issued By The Following Organizations

Campbell River, B.C. CoC Chapter CAPE – Canadian Physicians for the Environment Clean Air for Children (England)Coquitlam Greendrinks British Columbia Deeper Shade of Green - British Columbia Fanshawe Social Justice Club Frank de Jong - Leader of Green Party Ontario Great Lakes United Greenpeace CanadaLondon and District Labour Council London Project for a Participatory Society London West NDP Riding AssociationLOVE - London Organization of Vegetarians for the Environment M E M E S - Movement of Environmental Minimalists Embracing Sustainability Maude Barlow - Council of Canadians - National Chairperson New Westminster B.C. CoC Chapter Peterborough - Kawarthas CoC Chapter Post Carbon London Regina SK CoC Chapter Surrey, Langley and White Rock CoC Chapter - British Columbia TREA - Thames Regional Ecological Association Waste Free World LondonWhistler B.C CoC Chapter Windsor CoC Chapter

The Advisory Committee on the Environment to the City of London also advises the city to impose a moratorium on new drive-thrus.

The campaign for a moratorium began not with a conviction that banning new drive-thrus would make a gigantic difference in the unfathomable ecological devastation we have, as a society, created, however – we recognized it as an opportunity to initiate dialogue and raise consciousness on a range of important and interwoven issues, such as our society's:

• unconscious sense of entitlement to wasteful consumption patterns;

• air quality problems and associated respiratory ailments; children suffer the most breathing 50% more air than adults;

• illogical and destructive devotion to more sprawl and congestion, especially in the age of peak oil;

• inordinate greenhouse gas emissions resulting in acceleration of climate change;

• the current obesity epidemic in children;  

…

And, of course, there was also the hope that a moratorium could even represent a first – and admittedly

modest and partially symbolic – step towards both conceiving and building a newer, healthier, more sustainable city that is less devoted to oil and the

automobile.  We ask our city to embrace such a vision.

We know that to keep building drive-thrus in the midst of climate change is

completely irrational. We know this.

When we knowingly dismiss the consequences of our inaction this further corrupts our human person and intrinsic values. Values already corroded in our

society by our broken connection to our natural environment.

We are moving away from enlightened ideals when in fact we

need to embrace them.

What values are we teaching to our children?

Apathy

“By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy - indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of

knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of self satisfaction”

William Osler quotes (Canadian Physician, 1849-1919)

Apathy is a state of indifference, where an individual has an absence of interest

or concern to certain aspects of emotional, social, or physical life.

Identifying what we have achieved:

To my knowledge, this is a first. We have taken the issue of idling, as it is related to drive-thrus and raised the argument for a moratorium and adult responsibility into the public sphere.

We recognize this as an exceptionally important chain of events which we must learn from in order to shape a sustainable future. This cannot be understated.

What we have identified:

#1

The Assault on Reasonin the Public Sphere - Industry

We now have void cities and societies being shaped by industry as opposed to thriving communities and vibrant

cultures shaped by people.

Let us not allow industry to shape our children’s future.

Denialism

We have witnessed first hand industry's willingness to protect their interests at all costs. We have witnessed this firsthand in the form of denialism.

Denialism (n): the practice of creating the illusion of debate when there is none.

Denialism is a term used to describe the position of governments, business groups, interest groups, or individuals who reject propositions on which a scientific or scholarly consensus exists.

The corporate responsibility demonstrated must be recognized as zero. There has been no leadership shown within the industry’s extensive & costly greenwash campaign which preyed to the publics sense of entitlement.

Denialsm Explained:

One can describe the term as "the employment of rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of argument or legitimate debate, when in actuality there is none.

These false arguments are used when one has few or no facts to support one's viewpoint against a scientific consensus or against overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Denialism can arise from personal ideologies, or desire for profit. Industry groups may seek to protect markets from damaging facts and information. Selectivity - Relying upon discredited or flawed work supporting their idea while dismissing more credible work; presenting discredited or superseded papers to make a field look like it is based on weak research. Inflating favorable 'evidence' while discounting the contradictory, often while misrepresenting the significance of each. The selective use of evidence by denialists includes quote mining and cherry picking.

July 15th 2008 Jul. 15th--California lawmakers made it official Monday: Eating at some restaurants can be bad for your health.

Vowing to fight heart disease, lawmakers approved legislation to ban restaurants and bakeries from using trans fats.

Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, an Artesia Democrat who proposed AB 97, predicted his bill will save lives if signed into law.

Mendoza, a former fourth-grade teacher, said many kids struggle with obesity and lack of exercise at very young ages."Using trans fats in fast-food and other restaurants is not helping at all," Mendoza said.

This same article quotes the California Restaurant Association’s opinion on the legislation as follows:

The California Restaurant Association criticized the measure as a "very narrow and misleading approach to a much larger health issue.“

Banning trans fats, without taking other steps, will not significantly improve Californians' health, the restaurant association said in a letter.

Reducing use of trans fats could increase the use of saturated fats and other alternatives that "may have the same negative health impacts," the group said.

Sound familiar?

#2

We have no structure currently in place to deal with such issues

The issue of drive-thrus has become an issue of industry verses the community with the city as a spectator. This is wrong. Our

staff & planners urgently need infrastructure created to give them the tools and capacity to deal with such issues beforehand.

Leaders must be able to lead under strategies already in place. This is crucial as issues such as this will be coming forward in the

immediate future. We must recognize the issues will not be nearly as easy as the issue

surrounding drive-thrus. This issue is childs play compared to more significant and increasingly difficult issues that will present

themselves within this decade.

What is most difficult to face is this –

our city has demonstrated a severe disconnect from our environment.

#3

Voluntary Action – Adult responsibility

Further education & focus on community are essential. Consider this: In 7 days – industry gathered over 42,000 signatures in fast food outlets.

Many of them gathered by youth whom we should be inspiring to lead on climate change. The question is why as adults did we allow our children to be exploited by industry. We have lost our sense of community. Tens of thousands of these signatures were taken by people using the drive-

thrus over the duration of seven beautiful summer days. No blizzards in sight. So why are we using drive-thrus in the middle of summer? We have heard the argument that drive-thrus are needed for people who

have disabilities and mothers with children strapped in car seats. What we have not heard is why drive-thrus are necessary for the 99% of people

who do not face these obstacles.

The question now is whether humanity is psychologically ready and willing to accept such fundamental changes.

In London, a large population of our citizens have clearly demonstrated that they require strong and immediate leadership. This is the issue that in fact requires urgency.

We must recognize that what we see as ‘our right’ in this case, our ‘entitlement to pollute using drive-thrus’ cancels out the ‘right to simply exist’ for people in our world who barely contribute to CO2 emissions.

This truth is being avoided at all costs in every realm.

The climate-change crisis is at its very bottom a crisis of lifestyle — of character, even.

The big problem is nothing more or less than the sum total of countless little everyday choices, most of them made by us (consumer spending represents 70 percent of our economy), and most of the rest of them made in the name of our needs and desires and preferences to which our industry played upon.

For us as citizens to wait for legislation or technology to solve the problem of how we’re living our lives suggests we’re not really serious about changing — something you as politicians cannot fail to notice. You will not move until we do.

For this reason, I, on behalf of our community groups now call upon all citizens to voluntarily boycott all drive-thrus. Kill the fumes and let our children breathe.

For now – our single biggest luxury, our salient self-indulgence, is acquiescence.

By choosing our sense of entitlement over everything else, we ourselves, have become the very greatest threat to our own demise.

Our views will not be influenced by the way you vote tonight. This issue is not going to go away. A moratorium on drive-thrus is going to happen. If not tonight, then soon. It will take a progressive city with a progressive mayor and council, brave enough to do what is right. Whether it is popular or not is not the issue.

This is the true sign of leadership.

“Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular

and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character.”  Margaret Chase Smith

A Message from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health

An epidemic of overweight and obesity is threatening Ontario’s health.

Our environments increasingly are responsible for tipping us into overweight and obesity.

We are now living in ’obesogenic‘ environments, communities, workplaces, schools and homes that actually promote or encourage obesity :

• many young people do not have the opportunity to be physically active every day and are surrounded by ads promoting soft drinks and snack foods

• more adults work in sedentary jobs and drive long distances to work

• ’super-sized‘ food portions are the norm

• more communities lack sidewalks, park space, bike lanes and recreation programs

• more people do not have enough income to make healthy food choices

• As a society we have lost the balance between the energy we take in and the energy we expend, which is key to a healthy weight. Just when Ontarians are faced with more food choices, more processed foods, and larger food portions, we have engineered physical activity out of our lives, replacing it with remote controls, computers and video games.

A Message from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health cont’d-

• We have made our generation the most sedentary in history.

• In this report, I set out a plan to promote healthy weights in Ontario. The goal is to help all Ontarians understand the factors that affect their weight and find the right balance between the food they eat (energy in) and how physically active they are (energy out), and to create environments – day care centres, schools, worksites, recreation centres, communities – that promote physical activity and healthy eating.

• The province’s health system is committed to reversing the trend to overweight and obesity, but it cannot solve the problem on its own. Because physical, social, cultural and environmental factors have such a strong influence on weight, Ontario needs a broad, multi-sectoral, community-wide response to this epidemic.

• I call on all levels of government, the health sector, the food industries, work places, schools, families and individuals to become part of a comprehensive province-wide effort to change all the factors that contribute to unhealthy weight. We must act now to create communities that promote healthy eating and regular physical activity.

• Healthy weights mean healthy lives.

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/pub/ministry_reports/cmoh04_report/healthy_weights_112404.pdf

Our children are dependant upon our adult decisions. They look up to us. They emulate us. We teach them not by what we say but by what we model by the very decisions we make in our every day lives. Our children were not complicit in creating a society, in this case, a city, of disconnect, wasteful consumption & entitlement. We did.

However, we can change this.

Can we model to our children to think outside of themselves?

Collectively – can we teach our children well?

The well being of our citizens is the City of London’s mandate.  Quote – Vision London – London, The Forest City: We are a caring, responsive community committed to the health and well-being of all Londoners.  The actions we take will be socially, environmentally, and fiscally responsible so that out quality of life is enhanced and sustained for future generations.  Our people, heritage, diverse economy, strategic location, land and recourses are our strength.  – Based on this vision we ask the committee for the following:

1- That the planning committee refer to Council a recommendation that the City of London, in conjunction with other stakeholders, produces an urgently needed ‘CO2 Emissions Strategy Report’ – a strategy that gives direction and targets to curb emissions within the city of London. To emphasize the sense of urgency required to put a system such as proposed in place as well as show commitment to the process, a moratorium on expansion of the quantity of drive-thrus that exist in the city should be invoked until the report is functional and in use.

2- We ask that the planning committee contract an independent organization to evaluate the RWDI study and determine what is relevant and applicable to the idling issues faced in this city.  The industry is shaping the discussion around the RWDI report.  We do not believe the city should be using a report commissioned by the Industry (the TDL group - the American corporation that owns Tim Hortons) for scientific opinion.  The RWDI report dismisses environment impacts and health consequences.

3- We ask the planning committee to place the issue of idling - and the connection to the drive-through industry in the jurisdiction of the ETC for further evaluation

4- We ask that the planning committee endorse the staff recommendations included in the report on drive-thrus.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Council of Canadians

http://www.canadians.org/  http://cleanairforchildren.blogspot.com/

http://londoncoc.blogspot.com/