Tackling environmental issues in Nova Scotia would help deal with some of the province’s biggest problems: traffic, as well as the cost of energy and affordability.

That’s according to Marla MacLeod, the director of programs for the Ecology Action Centre.

She says that, if we look back at some of the major environmental events of the last year, they all share a recurring theme: focusing on the environment would be better for more than just the environment.

“We need to start realizing as a society that we can address multiple problems with the same solution, so it’s not a question of environment versus affordability. In fact, there are some things that address both of those,” says MacLeod.

Coastal Protection Act

For instance, she says if the province focused on coastal protection, they could also tackle some long-term affordability issues.

The provincial government scrapped the Coastal Protection Act in February. It previously passed with support from all parties in 2019, but Premier Tim Houston’s government needed to proclaim it, officially making it law.

Instead, they substituted it with a resource packet that outlines where people can build in a way that protects them from sea level rise and climate change. But there is no legal way to prevent people from developing in areas that could be affected.

“By not building too close to the coast, we are preventing future problems,” said MacLeod.

She said it would also be more economically efficient in terms of how much time each municipality has to spend creating their own set of coastal protection rules.

Maggy Burns (right), executive director of the Ecology Action Centre, says Nova Scotia needs the Coastal Protection Act. Pictured May 8, 2024. (Jacob Moore/Acadia Broadcasting)

The Ecology Action Centre is a major proponent of the act. They went so far as to hold a protest outside of the legislature in May, where about 300 people called on the government to proclaim the act.

MacLeod says we need to have more serious conversations about how to protect coastlines in the face of more serious storms, and we need to be thinking about how to adapt what we already have to climate change, she says.

“We cannot keep going the way that we’re going.”

Energy poverty

One of Nova Scotia’s other major environmental issues is energy poverty.

She says she wishes the issue got a bit more news coverage through the year.

It costs a lot to heat homes in the province, because many still rely on oil heating, she says. About 43 per cent of people in the province struggle to afford their energy bills, according to a report on energy poverty in the province.

Two people look at a heat pump inside a home in an undated image. (Submitted: Saint John Energy)

You could solve this in a number of ways, says MacLeod, while also helping climate change, like switching houses to heat pumps and using better insulation, which would help make homes more energy efficient.

“It insulates our home, but it also insulates our wallet from changes in rates,” she says.

Carbon Tax

The carbon tax is a  hot topic in both federal and provincial politics.

If people don’t like that it may cause them to pay more at the pumps, then public transportation could help, she says.

It would lower the amount of cars on the road, and by extension, reduce carbon emissions. Less cars on the road also means less traffic, which is a major problem for many as Halifax grows.

She hopes to see more funding from all levels of government for public transit next year.

But because Nova Scotia is a predominantly rural province, people often rely on their cars.

Claudia Chender attends a rally outside the legislature in Halifax on May 8, 2024. (Jacob Moore/Acadia Broadcasting)

The province has rejected a form of a carbon tax, but the opposition parties say the premier’s alternative is a cop-out. 

However, the federal and provincial government should try and get off coal, she says, because it has a serious impact on the environment.

Protected areas

Going into next year, MacLeod hopes the province will announce more protected areas.

Houston’s government has a goal to make 20 per cent of the province’s land into designated protected areas by 2030.

As of July, about 13.6 per cent of the province’s land and water was designated as protected.

“It’s important to protect nature for nature’s sake, but also, these are the natural systems that ensure that we have fresh water, that we have clean air, and that we are able to get out and enjoy ourselves as well,” says MacLeod.

“Those areas are so, so important and really need to be protected.”