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.
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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.
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http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1143499812043&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851
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