I am writing to express my…

I am writing to express my dismay at the cancellation of Ontario's cap and trade system. In this time of unprecedented warming, raging forest fires, drought, and extreme storm events, we need our governments to provide leadership and action to combat our reliance on fossil fuels, and to offer incentives and opportunities for all Ontarians to move to less harmful, more productive lifestyles.

In cancelling the cap and trade system, money has been cut to developing infrastructure that encourages bicycle commuting. Bicycle use for commuting has grown enormously in many Canadian cities, but Ontario will not be able to follow their leads without the infrastructure funding.

Support for renewable energy infrastructure, from geothermal heating to rooftop solar system to electric vehicles, including transit busses, has been curtailed. Kingston was to receive money to retrofit certain Social Housing buildings to increase their energy efficiency. All of these necessary programs for saving energy and using green energy have now lost their support.

Cap and Trade allows for the sharing of green technologies among many industries, to encourage the reduction of electrical usage (reducing greenhouse gas production). For example, certain factories have benefited from the cap and trade system when they shut down production lines on hottest summer days, making time for maintenance instead of using power from the grid on these hot days when so much power is being used for air conditioning. The factory then receives benefits from decreasing their usage, which they can trade with other organizations who need the carbon-reducing points.

Kingston has had a goal of becoming Canada's most sustainable city, by reducing carbon emissions to 30% below 2011 baseline by 2030. Many other cities, towns and villages across Ontario have similar goals, as we realize the peril we are in by our devotion to fossil fuels. We need a government that supports us in these initiatives, a government that is prepared to do the right thing for the planet. We MUST have strong initiatives that will address the severity of our greenhouse gas production. This is not a 4-year problem. This is for 200 years from now, when we will have potentially destroyed the livable areas of our planet. Please reinstate funding for green energy by keeping the cap and trade system.