[Mb-civic] Planet not up for quick sale: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

[Harold Sifton]

Story taken from the Toronto Star

HS


        

Planet not up for quick sale: Kennedy
Praises Canada in Toronto speech
Decries Bush's environmental record
Mar. 28, 2006. 06:17 AM
MADHAVI ACHARYA-TOM YEW
BUSINESS REPORTER


We must stop treating the planet as though it's a business in liquidation that's selling its assets for quick cash, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a business conference in Toronto yesterday. 

"To me, environmental advocacy is not about just protecting the fish and the birds for their own sake. It's about recognizing that nature is the infrastructure of our communities," the environmental lawyer and activist said. "When we destroy nature, we diminish ourselves. We impoverish our children." 

Kennedy made the remarks at a packed keynote speech at the 2006 Top Employer Summit at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Toronto. The two-day conference, which continues today, gives advice on how companies can make themselves more attractive to prospective employees. Speakers offer tips on competition and benefits packages, as well as how to get employees to become active in the community. 

Kennedy's family name is among the most revered in U.S. politics, four decades after the assassinations of his uncle, president John F. Kennedy in 1963, and his father, senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. 

He gave a passionate and wide-ranging speech, talking about his fondness for Canada, the pollution caused by coal-burning utilities and the failings of the U.S. media. 

The activist was unequivocal as he criticized U.S. President George W. Bush's record on the environment. "From an environmental standpoint, this is by far the worst administration we've had in American history," he said. "They've put polluters in charge of all the agencies that are supposed to be protecting the public from pollution." 

Warning of the dangers of pollution from coal-burning plants, Kennedy noted that each of his sons has asthma. The administration under former president Bill Clinton was in the process of prosecuting some of the worst polluters when Bush came into power. One of Bush's first acts was to order the justice department to drop those cases, Kennedy told the crowd. 

Coal producers have made some $100 million (U.S.) in campaign donations to Bush and the Republican Party. 

"I will see my children gasping for breath on bad-air days because somebody gave money to politicians. This should be on the front page of the newspapers every day and yet you won't read about it in the American media," Kennedy said. 

"Americans today know more about Britney Spears than global warming. We are the most-entertained and the least-informed people on the face of the Earth," he added. 

Kennedy is the senior attorney and national spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council and is president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a coalition of more than 100 environmental groups dedicated to protecting North American waterways. He lives in New York state. 

Toronto Mayor David Miller introduced Kennedy as a "tremendous environmental leader," who has been named one of the "heroes of the planet" by Time magazine. "He makes things happen by energizing people and talking to them about what they can do about the future," Miller said. 

Kennedy, who said he and his children regularly come to Canada on wilderness trips, drew laughter and a smattering of applause when he quipped, "I often think of the United States as the 14th province of Canada."
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