Do people today have a greater or lesser impact on Canada’s natural environment?

Question 1

Do we impact nature more today?

Answer 1

(this info goes in your intro paragraph)

People today have a greater impact due to industrialization, urban growth, and resource use.

Question 2

How has industry changed?

Answer 2

(Paragraph 1 + 2 pieces of evidence)

Industry is much bigger now.

Evidence 1: Today we rely on fossil fuels for energy (even if we are trying to do better). Oil sands emit more greenhouse gases.
Evidence 2: Factories use more energy today than 100 years ago (all the machines that replaced human labour are allowing us to produce and consume a lot more than we did 150 years ago).

Question 3

What about cities?

Answer 3

(paragraph 1 + 2 pieces of evidence)

Cities are larger, taking up more space.

Evidence 1: Urban sprawl destroys forests and wetlands.
Evidence 2: Species like caribou are losing habitats.

Question 4

What about resources and waste?

Answer 4

(paragraph 3 + 2 pieces of evidence)

People use and waste more resources.

Evidence 1: Open-pit mining damages (and can poison) the land.
Evidence 2: Canadians produce more garbage than ever before (and despite reusing, recycling and reducing efforts… more waste goes to dumps than ever before).

Question 5

What does this all mean?

Answer 5

(conclusion information)

Bigger industries, cities, and resource use mean we harm nature more today than 100 years ago. In some indiginous teachings, it is said we are supposed to think ahead seven generations in terms of the impact of our choices. Seven generations is about 175 years… although that seems like a long time, a lot of the current impacts from human choices will reach well beyond that number of years.