Current Issues
Aging is a natural trend towards an increase in the proportion of older people in our population and will continue until the Canadian population stabilizes.
The aging trend is merely part of the much larger demographic transition which has accompanied the development of our modern societies. In this transition, life expectancy has increased from under 40 years in the 1700s to nearly 80 and the number of children per woman has decreased from 6 to near 2.
This demographic transition features:
- lower fertility rates
- longer life spans and
- higher proportions of seniors
"What kind of country thinks it's ok not only that children don't have access to clean drinking water, but children don't have access to food on their tables?” exclaims Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus.
According to a new study by Food Secure Canada, people across the Territories living in remote communities such as the James Bay Coast have to spend over half of their income on food in order to meet basic nutritional requirements. For example, Mushkegowuk territory is serviced by only one grocery store. Individuals are in debt to these stores for their basic food necessities and the only things items deemed affordable are processed foods and pop.
Plenty Canada: Supporting Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection Goals
From recent global footage as Rio 2016, we can see the lack of respect for the land and water that sustains us. Canada is back on the international environmental stage to uphold its responsibilities, after attending the UN Conference Board under the ratified Paris Agreement, earlier this year. Although, the Board reported we have a lot of catching up to do, rating Canada’s environmental performance a ‘D’ - 14th among 16 countries. That rating is just above the United States, partly due to former PM Harper removing Canada from the Kyoto Accord goals. Today, stocks of the staple cod species are over 95% lower than they were several hundred years ago. Similar trends hold true for forests, soils, water and the vast majority of our wildlife (http://sustainablesociety.com/environment/environmental-history#.V8WxhWf2aUk).
More Articles...
- Corporate Accountability on Sustainability
- True Cost & Hidden Source of Urban Sprawl
- Income Polarization Affects Us All
- The True Source of Canada’s Carbon Emissions
- Why Unemployment Persists
- Understanding Population Cycles
- Why You Should Care About Farmland Loss
- Gridlock is getting worse and it's affecting your quality of life
- When immigration increases, higher unemployment and lower wages result.
- Are We Working Too Hard?
- Why Can’t Canada Ever Hit It’s GHG Emission Targets?
- Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'?
- Capture & store carbon dioxide
- Perpetual economic growth - is it possible
- Unprecedented shift in temperature