In Canada, Followers Lead in Climate Change Battle

"After inheriting wealth, knowledge and health, after being spared the horrors of world wars and a great depression, history's most privileged cohorts are rolling the dice on someone else's future. Those edging toward the door are leaving behind their garbage for those they say they love." James Travers

Yesterday, I gave business a free pass in the fight against carbon emissions. This is because I think the main culprit this past decade has been federal politicians in the United States and Canada. The U.S. Congress didn't ratify the Kyoto Protocol--end of story. In Canada, we signed the Kyoto Protocol, then made no meaningful effort to meet the reduction targets we had agreed upon while governed by the Liberals. When the Conservatives took power, we dropped the pretence of supporting Kyoto, then went out of our way to say a lot of nice things at the climate change conference in Bali that added up to little meaningful action in reality.

During the COP15 conference, the Conservative strategy appears to consist of little more than having Environment Minister Jim Prentice narrowcast to Canadians opposed to binding carbon reduction treaties. Perhaps this is empty posturing that will precede a Canadian signature on the final document produced in Copehagen. Without pressure from Canadians demanding action (i.e. polls indicating that a party’s support is directly correlated with their handling of the climate change portfolio), the Conservatives will continue to enjoy the domestic benefits of making Canada look like a pariah on the world stage. In fact, since I first drafted this post, domestic polls have been released that indicate Canadians are diverging from the Conservative stance.

In the meantime, provinces such as British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec have seized the initiative to reduce their respective carbon footprints without waiting for the federal government to act. They, and municipalities such as C40 city, Toronto, should be applauded for doing the right thing for its own sake. Tyler Hamilton writes that Ontario still has much work to do, but the same could be said for all the provinces.

Credit should also be extended to individuals investing in solar, wind, and geothermal power supplies for their own homes. Other than engaging in energy efficient retrofits for my home a couple years ago, I fear that the size of my carbon footprint has expanded with the size of my family. It’s painful to acknowledge this failing in public, but by doing so, there is a better chance of me meeting the following goals in the next 8-20 months:

• return to being a one car family
• reduce the amount of mileage driven per week by 50%
• buy carbon offsets for any future flights--if we can’t afford the offsets, then we can’t afford to fly

Admittedly, they are small gestures, but we need an accumulation of small gestures that involve some personal sacrifices to facilitate a culture change. Once that change has been made, the big gestures like putting a price of carbon emissions will seem like a fait accompli.