To be truly secure, we must address the environmental threats to our health and economy, says artist and naturalist Robert Bateman.

As I watch the great blue heron, poised like a statue on the rocky point, and follow the tracery of mist moving between the Douglas firs, I feel that this is the world as it always has been and always will be. The exploding twin towers seem concocted in Hollywood. What could they have to do with the real world? I am told that everything has changed since Sept. 11. Everything has not changed, but many things could change for the better.

This tragedy has brought a rush of actions. In my view, most of these are conceived in desperation and haste. Many are ill-conceived. Fortunately, this need not be. This disaster could be a golden opportunity to enact new laws and new spending in a positive direction.

As the federal government prepares its upcoming budget, it has become clear that the focus will be security. Pre-budget discussions have focused on such matters as defence spending and economic stimulus measures, they have neglected a key element of our well-being: our environmental security.

If the criteria is avoidance of casualties, environmental security is at least as important as dealing with terrorist threats, and perhaps more so. While terrorism might harm a small number of Canadians, we already know that the environmental threat is both real and significant in terms of human life and death:

• Air pollution, according to the government's own figures, prematurely kills 16,000 Canadians annually;
• According to the Canadian Institute of Child Health, toxic exposure has likely contributed to a 25-per-cent increase in childhood cancer over the past 25 years;
• Ontario issued 246 boil-water advisories in the nine months following the deaths of seven people in the Walkerton water disaster. In May, 2001, boil-water advisories were reported in 250 Newfoundland communities and 220 British Columbia communities.

These "threats" are not simply hypothetical. And if they are not addressed now, it will be more costly — in both human and economic terms — to address them in the future. Illnesses and deaths caused by air pollution and toxic exposure create a huge burden on our already taxed health-care system, and cost Canadian businesses billions of dollars in worker absenteeism and lost productivity.

Walkerton is our own example of bio "terror," causing much fear and anxiety.

Experts tell us that all over rural Canada, industrial animal production is producing many other Walkerton bio-bombs, waiting to happen. The defences against this are tough regulations and well-funded inspection teams.

In addition to restoring the balance, addressing environmental security now will have significant side benefits for our teetering economy. Economic stimulus measures with an environmental philosophy will provide more jobs and a more secure future. Clean energy technologies such as wind, solar and geothermal power greatly increase our energy self-sufficiency — not to mention the potential export market to the energy-hungry U.S. — while reducing the health threats of pollution. It would also considerably improve our security by weaning us away from petroleum and the Saudi connections. We are being held hostage by unstable and unpredictable parts of the world. Self-sufficiency is surely a worthy goal.

However, Canada lags behind in this sector. This is largely because the government maintains huge subsidies for nuclear and fossil-fuel development and has failed to put in place the economic incentives for renewables that are offered in other countries. In fact, Canada has fallen behind in many environmental sectors. A recent study from the University of Victoria's Eco-Research Chair of Environmental Law and Policy showed that Canada ranked 28th out of 29 industrialized countries in a comparison of 25 environmental indicators.

The federal government has found ever more creative ways to avoid dealing with our environmental problems in the budget. In the last budget, environmental issues got in the way of tax cuts. In previous years, budgets focused on health care, education and the deficit. It seems there is always a seemingly good reason to ignore the environment.

Let us hope that all of the money and legislation devoted to the potential terrorist threat will give Canadians more security (it may or may not). However, the upcoming federal budget will give us real security if it is directed toward a progressive environmental future. If they could speak, I am sure all of the great blue herons and other living things in Canada would agree.

Artist and naturalist Robert Bateman is the author of Thinking Like a Mountain.