"How I'd change the world..."

Alex Lin 11, USA Aparna Bhasin 17, India William Roper 17, UK JC Martel 17, Canada

Analiz Vergara 16, Ecuador Shoko Takahashi 14, Japan Yvonne Maingey 17, Kenya Georgina Viveash 15, UK

Jean-Christophe Martel

HOW I'D CHANGE THE WORLD...
"if one billion people in China have a car it is going to be extremely dangerous"


" In Canada our politicians talk a lot about the environment, but they don't do a lot.

Quebec is the best province in Canada for electricity because a lot of our electricity is hydro-powered, which doesn't cause much pollution.

But now the government has said that we are going to use more coal power, because it is much cheaper. But it is extremely polluting. So we are actually getting less green in Canada - because it costs money to be green.

We should improve the efficiency of cars and the insulation of houses - we have to use less energy. We should also use more green energy, like wind power and hydro power - even though it is more expensive.

And I think the government should sponsor industries that are environmentally friendly. A lot of pollution is produced by big industry. But that could be reduced in a country like Canada, if only we put pressure on the industries to change their ways.

The technology is there for them to reduce their emissions. We need to do more than encourage them to reduce their emissions - we need to force them.

I think the Kyoto protocol is extremely important. In Canada we are not going to achieve all our commitments for the Kyoto protocol and get that gets many people very angry - including me.

We have to make sure that countries like China and India and Russia can keep on industrialising without damaging the environment.

In a few years most Chinese people will have a car. Of course they want one - we all have one - it is completely just that they should want one.

But if one billion people in China have a car it is going to be extremely dangerous. So already developed countries like Canada must give a good example by reducing our gas emissions.

We must show other countries that you can have development without harming the environment too much. "

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