Leaders from nine of Canada's largest environmental organizations are heading to Washington D.C. for meetings on some of the most important environmental issues facing the continent — climate change, the arctic, dirty fuels, water and wildlife.
The environmental CEOs will be meeting with more than 30 of their environmental counterparts in the U.S. and with senior officials from the U.S. government in D.C. to share their views on Canada's challenges and opportunities and to learn more about where the U.S. is heading with environmental and energy policy.
"Since so many environmental issues are not contained by political boundaries, it's crucial that Canadian organizations work with their U.S. counterparts and the U.S. Government on solutions to continental and international issues such as global warming, energy policy and wildlife," said Stephen Hazell, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada.
"We are quite interested in getting information on Washington's plans to clean up the energy supply and the potential for U.S. initiatives to help Canada clean up or phase out Canada's dirty oilsands," said Rick Smith CEO of Environmental Defence in Canada.
"While Canada is an active exporter of energy to the U.S., too often we are a passive taker of energy policy - vehicle fuel efficiency standards are prime example," said Bob Oliver, Executive Director of Pollution Probe in Canada. "We are very interested in working with our counterparts in the U.S. to create shared solutions to our shared challenges in reducing transportation energy use."
"Wilderness and wildlife are both threatened by climate and increasing industrial development and require cross border co-operation- it's absolutely essential that we work with American groups and governments to secure a future for irreplaceable ecosystems,"said Éric Hébert-Daly, Executive Director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.
Canada's environmental leaders will meet with U.S. Government officials on Monday June 1, 2009 to discuss environmental issues. Then on Tuesday, June 2 the nine Canadian environmental CEOs will meet with the CEOs of more than 30 U.S. environmental organizations at a summit in Washington D.C.
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To contact Canadian environmental CEOs in Washington:
Dana Silver
Executive Assistant to Marlo Raynolds
danas@pembina.org
cel 403-710-4212
Marlo Raynolds
Executive Director, The Pembina Institute
marlor@pembina.org
cel 403-607-9427
Canadian Groups involved:
Graham Saul, Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada
Rick Bates, Executive Director, Canadian Wildlife Federation
Éric Hébert-Daly, National Executive Director, CPAWS
Rick Smith - Executive Director, Environmental Defence
Sidney Ribaux - Co-founder & General Coordinator, Équiterre
Bruce Cox - Executive Director, Greenpeace Canada
Marlo Raynolds - Executive Director, Pembina Institute
Bob Oliver - Executive Director, Pollution Probe
Stephen Hazell - Executive Director, Sierra Club Canada
