GREG POWELL, 12 JAN 2010
I asked two family members what came to mind when I said, "citizenship." One referred to the legalistic term, whereby one has the right to vote and participate to the full extent of the goings on of a country. The other thought about democratic participation, taking civic duties and our obligations to one another seriously. In other words, one thought about the rights that citizenship affords and one thought about the responsibilities that are inherent in citizenship. Combining those two thoughts, what would happen if our rights as citizens were contingent upon fulfilling our responsibilities as citizens? By extension, what would happen if our rights as citizens were contingent upon fulfilling our environmental responsibilities as citizens?
To be clear, I am not advocating for an authoritarian rule whereby each Canadian had to register a certain number of citizenship behaviours in order to vote or access health services. But consider this thought: if we don't behave as citizens, should we be afforded the rights of citizens?
Aristotle said that "citizenship and ethics are one." Etymologically, "ethics" is equivalent to "habits". Therefore, one might consider citizenship as the collection of habits we develop to participate in our democracy and fulfill our civic duties. Environmental citizenship, then, might be defined as the collection of habits we develop to fulfill our obligations to the planet and to one another by ensuring a clean, healthy, sustaining environment.
A citizen, in the fullest sense of the word, understands his or her personal responsibilities and acts upon them. I have to admit that I often try to narrow my personal responsibilities, saying, "I'm not responsible for toxins released into the Athabasca River" or "I'm not responsible for the millions of flights and associated greenhouse gas pollution that originate in Canada each year." I say these things to maintain my mental sanity but the truth is that my personal responsibilities extend far beyond what I want to think. If I am to be a citizen, I need to understand my responsibilities and act upon them.
When we take our personal responsibilities seriously, we recognize the level of compassion that we need for this civilization to thrive. When we take our civic duties seriously, we recognize that democratic participation is not limited to a once-in-four-years marking of a ballot. When we are environmental citizens, in the fullest sense of the word, we continually participate in developing the decision-making framework that ensures the health of the environment (which includes people) indefinitely.
Apparently, Environment Canada coined the term "environmental citizenship". With Jean Charest as environment minister under Brian Mulroney as Prime Minister, Environment Canada developed a series of primers on environmental citizenship aimed at youth. These are no longer available on the Internet, but the hard copies I requested from Environment Canada (and scanned as pdfs) clearly illustrate Canada as a pioneer of environmental citizenship. Regrettably, the term has since largely escaped the Canadian lexicon. We now find Canadians identifying the environment as a high priority, but environmental citizenship itself does not seem commensurate with these values.
I shudder to consider a society whereby failure to participate in democratic processes results in losing our rights as citizens. But the truth is that in our culture we do remove rights of those who abdicate their responsibilities to other people. I admit that the thought of my right to vote and to access health care depending on proving sufficient environmental citizenship makes me extremely nervous. But if we take our environmental responsibilities seriously and act upon them as if not doing so is a betrayal to our fellow citizens, I believe our environmental challenges, including climate change, would quickly vanish.
NATALIE PEPIN — 20 FEB 2010 - 12:27 AM MT
The reminder that citizenship entails both rights and responsibilities is important. We, in Canada and across North America, have a tendency to become complacent in our attention to and participation in matters that are of great importance to us all...such as a healthy environment and a healthy population. I have often wondered, what makes one person willing to engage with their community and government on issues of importance, while others shrink at the opportunity. Though I don’t think I have arrived at an answer yet, a couple factors seem to stand out. The first has to do with our identity as citizens. While we tend to see ourselves as polite and reasonable, this seems to have translated into a timidity regarding speaking out, even when the situation warrants and even requires it. Energy issues, climate change, and an agricultural system that preserves the land we love and depend on would all fall into this category of critical topics. I would like to point out, however, that this timid identity is more than just a slight fallacy. Canada has in the past aspired to leadership positions on issues ranging from peace keeping to environmental protection. We have collectively taken a stance on eliminating CFCs and promoting environmental citizenship. These accomplishments required consistent and concerted effort by citizens who were engaged and determined to protect and improve the quality of life of their families, friends and fellow citizens...this is certainly not a timid endeavour. The second factor that stands out, which is also greatly influenced by our collective identity, involves the institutions through which we acquire our democratic habits. In my opinion the most important of these institutions are the family unit, community organizations, and educational institutions. False timidity has limited the effectiveness of these citizen training grounds. Though appropriate, few families seem to sit down with their children and explain the nature of democracy, the importance of participating in community matters, and our responsibility to one another. Perhaps we feel that by entertaining these topics in family discussion we will somehow foster closed minded or intolerant attitudes. Perhaps we fear pushing our own beliefs onto our children. As a youth, finding your own values and opinions through critical thought is an important part of “coming of age.” Despite the obvious importance of allowing individual thought, I fear that citizenship will not even make it onto “the radar” of future generations if it is not first introduced as a natural part of life during the formative years. Personally, I have grappled with explaining the process of voting to my five year old daughter. After she asked why I had to go into a school where we have never been to “vote,” I could have brushed off her question. I could have said...because that is the way it is, or made some sarcastic remark about trying to find the worst of the potential evils on the ballot. Instead I discovered that my kindergartener could grasp the concept of voting...with a little help from a mock vote on who got to do the dishes. Later when she asked me why I was crying after the American election, I could have said that I stubbed my toe or that I was cutting onions. Instead I found that she understood the responsibility of making decisions that affect others and that I was hopeful for the future at that moment. The moral of my story is, we need to discuss these matters with each other. Even with five year olds. There is nothing impolite about discussing democratic rights and responsibilities in our families, our communities, and our schools. In fact, these are the best places to instil a love of freedom and a sense of responsibility for one another. We can do so without disrespecting each other, and we can support the many opinions that exist by forming a tolerant foundation of understanding of what democracy means. I truly think that our environment and our health depends on it.
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