Mr. Speaker, today is Earth Day, which offers us the opportunity to reflect on our relationship with the environment.
In recent generations, the human race's ability to modify the world ecosystem has increased in a spectacular way, because of our exploding population and our technological progress. World economic activity, for instance, is 20 times what it was in 1900. Consequently, many human activities surpass our planet's ability to replenish its resources.
A short-sighted view will not enable us to solve these problems. We need to start to again incorporate environmental considerations with our day to day decisions as individuals, managers and legislators. It is possible for economic development to go hand in hand with respect for the environment.
International Earth Day reminds us that there is no time to waste in making the still theoretical concept of sustainable development a concrete reality.