"So the question for us is really, is the moral weight of our example worth the immediate, real costs to our economy and lifestyles? Will you drive 30 per cent less, buy 30 per cent less, approve putting a brake on the oilsands, offshore oil, the auto-making industry? In hard terms, will we use less energy, pay more for fuel, live less excessively, fly less often right now, just to show the world that we Canadians are willing to back up what we say about global warming by what we do?The only thing I might quibble with is this lumping together of personal lifestyle choices (driving less) with national-level environmental regulation, especially on industry. I like the focus on lifestyle decisions and personal impact, and I am willing to drive less (where we live, people already think we're freaks to only have one vehicle for a family of four), but by myself I can't make coal-fired power plants illegal, or limit CO2 emmissions from massive oil extraction and processing projects. This intersection between the personal and political realms goes to the heart of this lifestylism project -- revolutionizing your lifestyle won't cause the necessary revolution on these issues, and politics alone can't solve the problems without people changing their lifestyles. Are we willing to make hard choices in both realms?
This is not just a question for our politicians. It's a question for us all. Do we believe our moral leadership is worth the personal and public cost of providing that leadership?"
Friday, February 02, 2007
Rex on Climate Change
I enjoyed Rex Murphy's viewpoint on climate change on The National last night and found the article this morning. An excerpt:
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2 comments:
I'm with you there...ironically the richest province Alberta is our worst offender - they are literally stripping the resources & polluting at the same time. I think the only way to get corporations & oil companies to stop their excess is to tax the heck out of them...an environmental tax that would then go into policing offenders and explore further more alternative forms of energy. Interestingly - Manitoba could become an energy superpower if we relied more on on alternative fuels from canola & further hydro development - I have some huge concerns though with how we are damaging our river systems as well. But hydro & wind electricity is still the cleanest power we employ...
Here's something cool windmills may be going up along what we call the meridian highway back home in Morris/Rosenort... there are already a whole whack of them setup in La Riviere/Holiday Mtn area...
That's super cool. And why not wind, eh? I was fascinated by Rob's account of the rise of wind power on PEI recently.
It looks like the Conservatives are being dragged (by following polls, mostly) into totally changing their environmental stripes. They'll probably do whatever it takes to convince Canadians that they'll be tough on polluters...and then let their corporate buddies do whatever they want once they're in power.
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