GC30 Acid Rain

WHEREAS General Council in 1982, acting on petitions from several conferences, including Hamilton, identified acid rain as a major issue for attention by the church; and

WHEREAS The United Church of Canada sponsored a major international consultation on acid rain in January 1984, bringing together representatives of 25 religious bodies from Canada and the United States, and issuing a statement which included specific recommendations for action:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the General Council commend to congregations the Statement on Acid Rain from the International Consultation, and encourage them to take the following actions as recommended by the Consultation:

1. COMMEND the Canadian federal and provincial governments for proceeding with further emission reductions in Canada without waiting until the US is prepared to act, recognizing that 50 per cent of Canada’s acid rain problem originates within its own borders. Canada should proceed unilaterally to reduce its own emissions and use such action to reinforce its pressure on the US.
2. ASK the federal and provincial governments to ensure that there is no reduction in any research related to acid rain, and to increase research in needed areas including the effects of acid rain on forests and agriculture.
3. REMIND the federal and provincial governments that reducing emissions in Canada will also reduce the emissions that flow to the US, which would be consistent with principles of stewardship, neighbourliness and international law.
4. COMMIT themselves to studying the booklet, All Nature is Groaning (Department of Stewardship Services), and to developing further educational and action strategies to broaden and deepen the level of ecumenical activity on acid rain and other environmental and energy issues.

Such strategies might include:

1. Distributing copies of the Acid Rain Consultation Statement to congregations.
2. Encouraging ecumenical study sessions, using resources like the National Film Board film, Acid Rain: Requiem or Recovery.
3. Writing to federal and provincial politicians, encouraging action related to the recommendations of the Acid Rain Consultation.

GC30 1984 ROP, pp. 70, 516-517

See the research file for the history of events leading up to this statement