I believe that Canada in…

I believe that Canada in general and  Ontario in particular have dragged their feet in terms of dealing with our greenhouse gas emissions.  We have known for decades that these gases could unbalance the climate and change it if we did not begin to bring down our emissions.  We even called the years 1990 to 2000 the decline decade.  It is now 2016 and the emissions are still rising and Canada per capita is one of the worst emitters in the world.

It turns out that 97% of climate scientists support the notion that our climate is changing right now and that humans are responsible.  The UN has published several reports over the last two decades and in each case the reality of climate change is much worse than was predicted.  And yet in Canada and Ontario there is no sense of alarm in the face of numerous examples of changes that were not supposed to happen until 2100!

It is unbelievable that our governments cannot grasp the fact that it is not a case of reducing emissions or destroying our economy.  It is a false choice and a false notion.  We can have economic growth and drastically reduce our emissions.  We take on an aggressive conservation program and an aggressive move to green energy sources of which there are many choices in Ontario and across Canada.  This shift would create more jobs that would be losses in the fossil fuel industry.  In addition these jobs would be sustainable and not affected by the boom and bust cycle of resource extraction.

Why do we delay?  Politics in my opinion.  Political parties are afraid of losing votes in Alberta if they do the right thing and transition away from fossil fuels.  They are so afraid that they are willing to risk the water supplies and water bodies of British Colombia and all of Eastern Canada to transport bitumen via pipeline and rail.  Spills of already occurred and will continue to occur all to keep Alberta happy and receive votes as a reward.  As mentioned green energy would be good for Alberta and the rest of Canada.  Fossil fuels and their emissions could be reduced below the levels mandated by the Paris accord.  What is need are governments that put the well being of Canadians and the world ahead of political gain.  A gain that if achieved will be at a huge unacceptable cost to Canada and the World.

Time is running out.  There is evidence building that we are on course for a runaway greenhouse affect that would mean that climate change would be out of our hands.  We could be in for a global climate that we cannot mitigate or adapt to.  We could be inviting the end of civilization if we do not act quickly and effectively.

We cannot play political games.  There is too much at stake.

[Original Comment ID: 204920]