We cannot continue to build…

We cannot continue to build infrastructure for resources that will not last. We cannot continue to prioritize the production and use of resources that will not last. We cannot continue to deny everything we know about climate change and the energy sector's role in it simply because it is easier to continue on as we have been. I am asking you, my elected representatives, to use your heads. It is up to you to pave the way for renewables, to make the shift to a new way of doing things. We citizens are relying on you to look at all the information before you, to listen to the real facts and figures at your fingertips, and to choose a renewable future. Our children will not know the world we knew if you don't pull your collective head out of the sand and get with the program. We can't rely on coal, we can't rely on oil and gas, and we should not rely on nuclear energy. It is up to you to make renewables - what we know to be the future of energy - a reality now. It is up to you to find a way forward that considers not just the baby boomers who will vote you in or out, but all of the young people, the children who will live with the choices you make today. It is up to you to shape the way we look at energy so that it serves the many, not the few. And when we talk about protecting jobs, let's be real. I grew up on Cape Breton Island and what I learned from that is that mines close. Finite resources run out. You can give a few people a job on a pipeline, or in an oilpatch - but for how long? We have to stop being so shortsighted. We have to make room for something new and sustainable. Sorry - we don't have to do that. You do. Your job is not to look towards the next election, but to work for us right now. The buck stops with you. Don't blow this. Build a renewable future for Ontarians. Show the country how it's done. Listen to what the scientists are telling you. This is the tipping point, the time for broad strokes in new directions. It's not the time to keep treading water. In fact, it's negligent to do so.

[Original Comment ID: 205650]