Anthropogenic (human-made)…

Anthropogenic (human-made) global warming is dangerously increasing as we burn more fossil fuels and add more carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere.
The increasing anthropogenic global warming is creating more severe weather events in the form of floods, tornadoes, droughts, wind and ice storms, and giving rise to more forest loss through forest fires and pine beetle infestation.
Increasing costs to Ontario industry and taxpayers of weather created disasters, forest loss, crop failure and increasing health care costs due to heat stroke, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and malaria, will exceed the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions now.
Ontario has already pledged along with the other provinces to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions 30% below 2005 levels by 2030 (Paris Accord).
The Government of Ontario must act quickly and decisively to reduce Ontario’s greenhouse gases to the required level by 2030!
Cancelling Cap & Trade before having a replacement plan up and running is, in light of the increasing costs to Ontario taxpayers of climate change, irresponsible.

The Government of Ontario needs to give taxpayers a vision to counter climate change, instead of the polarizing rhetoric and ripping up of existing plans, they have provided to date.
Not only do we need to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases, but to have a liveable world for our children and grandchildren, we also need to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. The book, “Drawdown” edited by Paul Hawken, evaluates 80 ways of reducing greenhouse gases. None of the solutions are without cost, but the cost is still much less than that of doing nothing. Surely the Government realizes that everyone must pay the cost, and the more visible it is to the taxpayer, the more efficient will be the cost-benefit ratio.

TWO PLANS:
There are two plans I would like to put forward, one for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and one for sequestering carbon.

CARBON FEE & DIVIDEND
For reducing emissions, I propose the plan from Citizen’s Climate Lobby, Carbon Fee & Dividend (CF&D). According to most economists this is the least expensive way of reducing emissions, while providing low and middle income families with more money from the dividend than they would pay through increased cost of goods. The plan is also an ideal conservative plan as it is market based. Here is the plan:
A fee, based on the tons of CO2e emitted, is placed on carbon-based fuels as they enter the province or are extracted in the province.
The fee is increased at a preannounced pace, to motivate using less fuel and to give industry time to respond.
All of the fee collected is returned to Ontarians, in the form of a dividend, on an equal basis, thus protecting low and middle income households from increased energy costs associated with the carbon fee. The Auditor General would verify that all of the fee is returned. Thus the plan is completely transparent to taxpayers, as they know why the fee is being collected, and they know where it is going. It also gives the taxpayer a choice about how to spend the dividend, be it buying a smaller or more fuel efficient car, or improving home insulation, or using a bicycle and public transportation rather than driving.
A predictably increasing carbon price will level the playing field for green-energy and will send a clear market signal, unleashing entrepreneurs and investors without government interference. The government is not known for choosing winners when they hand out subsidies.
Ontario industry can be protected through border carbon adjustments, refunding carbon costs when goods are flowing out of the province and adding them when goods are entering. This is allowed by the WTO.
It’s also a politically astute plan, as each dividend cheque the taxpayer receives is coming from the government. Everyone, including the environment wins!

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE
Currently, conventional farming releases more carbon into the atmosphere than is sequestered. Regenerative agriculture not only sequesters carbon from the atmosphere but also provides more fertile land, better water absorption, lower costs (no tilling, no fertilizers, no pesticides, no herbicides) and the food produced is healthier. Gabe Brown in North Dakota developed the technique independently and currently has better production and greater profits than the average in his county. The principles of regenerative agriculture, although the name changes, are being applied in several countries, including Australia, England and the U.S. Lots of information on this way of farming is readily available on the internet. I have attached a list of references at the end of this submission. Farmers cannot switch overnight to this way of farming. It probably requires 5 to 10 years to make the switch, so farmers need to be encouraged and helped financially.

I have presented two plans, but really the climate situation has become so desperate through inaction, that we need to attack with all the means that are available. For the sake of future generations, I hope the Government of Ontario understands this.

Link to Citizen’s Climate Lobby Canada: See link attached.

References on Regenerative Agriculture: See links attached.

An excellent book on regenerative agriculture is:

“The Soil Will Save Us” by Kristin Ohlson.