Earth Day reminds me of the importance of taking action on climate change. A month ago, I was in Ottawa for a conference as part of World Water Day where we were discussing the Canadian government’s commitments with the creation of a Canadian water agency as well as a unprecedented for the implementation of a water conservation plan. It has been repeated several times during this conference that the climate crisis we are experiencing is a water crisis and I agree 100%.
Posted yesterday at 2:00 p.m.
Why did I become interested in water?
My family, the Gaspé Beaubien family, has always made it its mission to give back to others. Each generation chooses a cause to protect that is close to their hearts, it is part of our tradition.
So when we asked the 14and generation what theirs was going to be, Estelle and Arielle, my two daughters, and their cousins came back to us and said: we want to protect water.
“Dad, there’s a water crisis in Canada,” my daughter replied. Stunned, I replied that in Canada, we have more than five million lakes, and over 20% of the fresh water on the planet! But, I was wrong… After doing my research, I discovered several facts that alarmed me:
— 38 indigenous communities still do not have access to drinking water;
— 94% of climate change is linked to water: this is clearly seen with the multiplication of devastating floods, droughts, heat waves and forest fires;
— our lakes, rivers and streams are facing several problems of proliferation of toxic algae, invasive mussels due to rising temperatures;
— the water we drink contains microplastics, we drink the equivalent of 54 credit cards in microplastics per year… and these remain in our organs!
These are just a few examples among many others that have significant consequences on the health of our ecosystems, but also on our daily lives.
So I said to myself, yes, François, there is indeed a water crisis in Canada…
Why should we care about these issues?
Because our body is in danger from deteriorating drinking water quality.
Because the related climatic phenomena, if we don’t take care of them quickly, will affect the price of food, the cost of our health services, the price of our insurance and much more.
Because inaction on these issues will create an economic crisis in Canada: 3% of the gross domestic product comes from water. That’s $65 billion.
Our solution: AquaAction
Faced with this realization, my family and I decided to found AquaAction in 2015. The mission of this non-profit organization is to restore the health of fresh water in North America.
How it works ? Municipalities and associations are asked what their problems are related to water management, and young entrepreneurs are developing solutions to this problem through the AquaHacking Challenge. Since its creation, 36 start-up water companies have been established, half of them by women, and 41 jobs have been created.
The positive results that have come from the AquaHacking program have enabled us to launch a campaign to raise awareness of Canada’s pressing freshwater issues. The goal? Engage Canadians and government to take action to save water and encourage the development of solutions in municipalities. Water is our challenge. The future depends on the solutions developed today.
On this Earth Day, let’s act today for water, for ourselves and for future generations.