Ecosystem
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ESS 205 Confronting Global Change (Prof. M. Diamond) March 14, 2019 – Waste
Background Dealing with waste is difficult! Dealing a large community’s complex mixture of waste is extremely difficult! There are no easy answers for dealing with the enormity of waste generated by each person in a High Income Country (HIC), and especially Canada. Waste is generated by each person, as well as industrial, commercial and institutional bodies. Waste is the quintessential “externalized” cost of living in a High Income Country as most often, society ends up “owning” the cost of dealing with that waste. Waste falls under all jurisdictions in Canada. Municipalities are responsible for collection, recycling, composting and disposal of household waste. Each province is responsible for drafting and implementing waste reduction policies and programs, and must approve and monitor waste management facilities and operations (Government of Canada 2018). On November 29, 2018, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks of Ontario, the Honourable Rod Phillips, tabled a discussion paper “A Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan” that laid out the government’s intentions for dealing with waste, climate change and oversight of air, land and water quality (Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. 2018). On March 6, 2019, the Minister presented “Reducing Litter and Waste in Our Communities: Discussion Paper” as a follow-up to that larger plan. The “litter and waste” discussion paper lays out the rationale, suggests some initiatives, and poses questions about how best to reduce litter and handle waste (Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, 2019). All Ontario residents are able to comment on provincial policy initiatives related to the environment through the Environmental Registry of Ontario or EBR (https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4689). Opening the EBR was the culmination of a long-fought campaign to increase public access to, and transparency about, provincial environmental initiatives. The Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks is seeking input from all Ontario residents to the discussion paper concerning litter and waste that was released on March 6, 2019. The comment period is open for 45 days and thus ends on April 20, 2019. Your assignment is to draft a response to one of the discussion areas presented in the paper, specifically one of Sections 2.2 to 2.7. Goal To comment on the proposals contained in “Reducing Litter and Waste in Our Communities: Discussion Paper” released March 6, 2019 by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Your comment needs to be prepared for submission to Environmental Registry of Ontario (EBR): https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4689 You do not need to submit to the EBR but I encourage you to do so, since you are preparing a comment and commenting is your democratic right.
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Your Assignment This assignment focusses on the report and questions posed in:
“Reducing Litter and Waste in Our Communities: Discussion Paper”, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP). This report was released on March 6, 2019. https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4689
1. Read the Introduction and one of Sections 2.2-2.7 of the report.
2. Briefly answer the questions posed in one of Sections 2.2-2.7.
Each answer should: • be clear, factual and concisely written, • be about 50 words, • present a logical response that is supported by information. • Include one reference that is not the discussion paper published by MECP.
Tips: Please use short and easily comprehensible sentences. Do not use jargon or “big” words when a shorter word would suffice. Your responses need to be persuasive but also come from understanding that the Ontario government (and others in Canada) are not all powerful.
Marking Rubric:
Problematic D-F
Fair (C) Good (B ) Excellent (A)
Clarity, thoughtfulness and persuasiveness of your answers to each question: Answers thoughtfully and persuasively respond to each question.
1.2 or less 1.4 1.6 1.8
Depth of analysis and feasibility of idea contained in each answer: Each answer demonstrates that you researched and formulated a realistic and reasonable response based on information.
1.2 or less 1.4 1.6 1.8
Style and grammar, use of citations: Writing is clear, concise, and correct. One reference is used for each answer.
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.8
References Government of Canada, 2018. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing- reducing-waste/municipal-solid/shared-responsibility.html Page accessed on March 14, 2019. Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, 2018. https://www.ontario.ca/page/made-in-ontario- environment-plan Page accessed on March 14, 2019. Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, 2019. “Reducing Litter and Waste in Our Communities: Discussion Paper” https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4689. Page accessed on March 14, 2019.