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Ontario to Spend Nearly $80M Battling Climate Change With 50 Million Trees

Posted on: Monday, 13 August 2007, 18:15 CDT

OAKVILLE, Ont. (CP) - Ontario is setting an ambitious example for the rest of the world by committing $79 million to plant 50 million trees to fight climate change and create a greener landscape for future generations, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Monday.

Ontario is supporting a United Nations campaign to plant a billion trees by making the largest contribution in North America, McGuinty said.

The province has already planted 1.8 million trees this year and the rest are to be planted on both public and privately owned lands in southern Ontario by 2020.

It's estimated the trees will remove 3.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2054, - the equivalent of 172 million cars driving about 100 kilometres.

The trees will also mean more natural beauty across the province, more shade for homes to help conserve energy and better ecosystems and habitats for other species, McGuinty said.

"There's an old saying: 'The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second best time is right now,"' he said.

"It seems to me we have a special responsibility to the future to do our share, to lead by example."

On hand for the announcement was former astronaut Roberta Bondar, who served as chairwoman for a government review of environmental education in Ontario.

People can't take for granted that the Earth is the only known planet that sustains life, and the planting of 50 million trees is good news for Ontario and people around the world, said Bondar, who went into space in 1992 aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

Bondar said she wishes everyone could have the opportunity to see the "gorgeous pastel-coloured planet" in space, surrounded by darkness, to appreciate how important it is to protect the environment.

"It would embed in you the commitment for your life to be passionate and caring and give respect and have dignity for all the life that exists on (Earth)," she said.

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society executive director Janet Sumner said Monday's announcement is good news, but she called on the Ontario government to do more to protect existing forests.

"It's going to ring hollow if there's not an accompanying announcement to protect our natural forests," Sumner said.

Source: Canadian Press

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