The State of Canada's Environment

Ian Wylie Toal is a Martindale-based freelance science writer.

Published by Environment Canada, this book is “a summary of the state
of the environment in Canada.” As such, it forms a reference point, a
sort of environmental primer from which to assess the environmental
issues that Canadians will have to contend with in the next little
while.

The book is divided into five parts. Part 1 deals with how people
perceive the environment, focusing on our concern with economic models.
Part 2 lays the groundwork—what the environment is, how it works, and
how people interact with it in general terms. It is here, for example,
that the reader can learn about the structure and composition of the
atmosphere, how this supports life, how the atmosphere changes
naturally, and how people affect this change. Part 3 examines six
specific regions of Canada—the Arctic, the Fraser River, the Prairies,
the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and the Upper Bay of
Fundy—concentrating on the features and problems unique to each area.
Part 4 presents six big environmental issues of concern to Canadians
today, such as acid rain, ozone depletion, and waste management. Part 6
explores the notion of sustainable development.

The book is a dispassionate presentation of the state of the Canadian
environment. It is well written, well supplied with charts, diagrams and
statistics, and, with the exception of Part 1, uncontroversial. Part 1
is fairly critical of the economic mindset that has dominated human
thinking about the environment, and stresses a more holistic way of
thinking in order to get us out of the mess we have gotten ourselves
into.

This book is probably of most use to the general reader who needs
background information in order to understand all sides of an
environmental issue, though it would be an appropriate addition to
school libraries. Specialist readers, who already have the basics, may
not find the book as useful, although they may want to have it on hand
as a reference.