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By Benjamin Lee
IS CANADA in favour of climate change?
While most of us would adamantly deny it, we remain near the top in per-capita
CO2 emissions, and our government seems more concerned with protecting the oil
and gas industry and securing access to future mineral bonanzas in the far
North than in protecting the environment.
Yes, we signed the Kyoto agreement, but it’s been clear since Jean Chrétien’s tenure as prime minister that we have no plan to keep our commitment. Under
Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, we’re actively resisting global efforts to combat climate change.
Indeed, our government’s performance at the UN conference in Copenhagen earned Canada numerous ‘Fossil of the Day’ awards by NGOs monitoring the talks, putting us in the company of our friend
and ally, Saudi Arabia.
One might ask: why should we care about such tongue-in-cheek reprimands from ‘tree-huggers?’ Canada’s hardly the hottest place on earth. Besides, there are our economic interests
at stake. The Harper government has held firm to the notion that we should wait
and see what the United States does, because doing otherwise would be
disastrous for the economy.
Green policies
Green policies like a carbon tax will negatively affect our oil and gas sector,
particularly the tar sands in Alberta. Yet the petroleum industry is still only
one sector. What is the picture for our overall economy?
And what of the moral and ethical concerns if we do nothing and climate change
impacts are severe?
It may not cost the overall Canadian economy as much as our federal government
seems to fear, if we pursue greener policies. In fact, there are areas where we
should benefit.
As a large, resource-rich country, Canada will gain from exploiting our
extensive capacity for renewable energy such as wind, tidal waves, small-scale
hydro and biofuels.
In particular, using wind to generate electricity is already cheaper than using
natural gas, and in some areas can cost less than 5 cents/kilowatt-hour, which
makes it cost-competitive with coal. With greater investment in cheap renewable energy, we can build on our existing
strength as a low-cost electricity exporter to the US, as well as encouraging
industries to locate in Canada, where they can benefit from low energy costs
and a skilled workforce.
The economic benefits of ‘going green’ are already established in countries like Denmark and Germany, which are
leaders in the wind turbine and solar cell industries respectively. The renewable energy sector employed nearly 280,000 people in Germany in 2008,
with an annual growth rate above 10 percent.
China, which is often pilloried for its rising pollution, is embracing a greener
future by becoming a world-leader in solar cell manufacturing, wind power and
battery technology.
When President Barack Obama spoke about his economic stimulus plan to Congress
in February, he set a goal to “double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years,” asserting that “it is time for America to lead again.”
A duty to act
Yet the economic arguments aren’t the most important ones. While I contend that ‘greening’ our economy will have positive impacts, I feel that we have a duty to act even
if we incur significant costs. Why? Because ultimately, responding to climate
change is an ethical and moral issue.
Our faith as Christians should include the understanding that we are stewards of
God’s creation. I was very moved when Sir John Houghton, a British atmospheric
scientist who served as co-chair of the Scientific Working Group for the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 1988 to 2002, spoke about
how his faith made caring for the environment a duty.
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In his words, “Christians and other religious people believe that we’ve been put on the earth to look after it. Creation is not just important to us,
we believe also it is important to God and that the rest of creation has an
importance of its own.”
Moreover, environmental damage has the potential for causing drought, flooding
and famines in parts of the world which are already the poorest and most
at-risk.
For example, millions of people in low-lying Bangladesh are threatened by
flooding if ocean levels rise due to global warming. When we consider how we
are called to care for the poor and afflicted in this world, we should not
forget the potential harm from climate change.
We Canadians have a lot of potential for reducing our impact on the climate.
After all, we are part of the wealthiest one-sixth of humanity that is
responsible for 55 percent of CO2 emissions. And while emission from
fast-rising countries like China and India continue to grow, the carbon
footprint of each Canadian is still six times that of someone in China and 11
times an Indian. Thus, the relative impact of reducing per-capita emissions in
Canada is huge, simply because our current consumption is so high.
Hard to make sacrifices
Sadly, while most of us agree that we have a duty to care for the environment,
we often fail to act. Living in a wealthy, developed country, we find it hard
to make needed sacrifices and limit our consumption.
Gandhi once said, “There is enough in the world for everybody’s need, but not enough for anybody’s greed.” Of course, most of us don’t feel particularly greedy about buying a new car, plasma TV or smartphone. But
it remains true that we live in one of the most affluent societies in history.
Two millennia ago, in a poor and rustic society, Jesus starkly told a rich young
man that he should sell all his possessions and give to the poor if he desired
to truly live. We are clearly as uncomfortable with that idea now as that man
was then.
Can we nonetheless find the will to sacrifice on behalf of future generations
and help the poor who will suffer most from climate change? Let us embrace that
challenge, as another generation of Canadians who will humbly follow in the
footsteps of those who sacrificed and persevered through World Wars and the
Great Depression. Let us not be dulled into thinking that our comfortable way
of life is secure; we should be bold and act on climate change.
Toronto-born Benjamin Lee earned a PhD in applied physics at Harvard University.
He works at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado.
January 2010
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