Toronto a critical centre for environmental change in Canada
Cities are consumptive beasts. Consuming fuel, water, natural resources and greenspace, their ecological footprint extracts an enormous toll on the planet. The resulting smog, extreme heat (urban heat island effect), land and water contamination means cities can also be unhealthy places to live and work. Because 80% of Canadians now make their home in cities, environmentally-responsible changes in consumption and disposal practices will impact the country's environmental record and fate.
A "greener" Toronto, Canada's largest city, will not only have a huge impact on improving the environment, but actions here can set standards and trends for the rest of country, and for cities across the globe.
TEA was founded in 1988 to pursue this mission of instilling environmental responsibility within municipal governments, investigating innovative, local solutions and encouraging cities to become advocates for the environment.
The issues we choose to work on are also, we believe, critical to the health and well-being of residents in this city - climate change, smog, garbage, and toxics. They are also issues that lack attention by other environmental groups, at least at the municipal level. More recently, we also added protecting the Greenbelt and promoting local food to our mandate, realizing the leadership Toronto can take to implement solutions.
While we have always stayed focused on what Toronto can do to improve the environment, locally and globally, TEA does look at ways higher levels of government can cooperate and assist Toronto (and cities) in reaching their goals.
We believe our work in developing cross-sectoral partnerships has helped ensure Toronto has the support to implement environmental change and become the municipal leader and innovator it is today, in Canada.