Smog, Climate Change and Energy

We are changing the very air that we breathe. Smog hurts our health while climate change threatens our future. These problems have a common source: the unnecessarily large amounts of gasoline, oil, coal and natural gas we burn every day to heat our homes, power our vehicles, manufacture goods and provide electricity.

This doesn't need to be the case. While Canadians are currently dependent upon the services that energy provides, we don't have to be dependent on fossil fuels. Energy conservation and renewable energy (such as wind and solar power) are just as technically feasible and economically available. They have the advantages of causing little or no pollution, creating jobs and income throughout the country, and insulating consumers from high energy prices.

The Toronto Environmental Alliance works at the local, provincial and national levels to improve air quality and combat climate change. We are working to create solutions to smog and climate change by:

• Fighting for better public transit and limits to urban sprawl.
• Promoting clean, green energy to replace polluting coal and nuclear plants.
• Working with the Low Income Energy Network [1] to ensure universal access to safe, affordable, environmentally-friendly energy.
• Proposing local solutions through a Toronto Smog Plan.
• Encouraging individuals to act by taking the One-Tonne Challenge.
• Engaging the provincial and federal governments in developing new smog and climate change policy.