PROTECTING THE BASICS
RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE : IMPLEMENT KYOTO & MORE
Until about 200 years ago, the concentration of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) had increased by only 1% over a period of 240,000 years. In the past 200 years of industrial development, atmospheric CO2 has increased by 30% and continues to grow rapidly. (C02 is a greenhouse gas that captures the heat of solar radiation). Most of the world’s top climatologists now agree that rapid climate change is real and human-caused. Their estimate of average global temperature increase ranges from 1.4% to 5% over the next 100 years. In fact, the Oil & Gas Industry has largely retreated to directly attacking the international Kyoto Accord on Climate Change rather than challenging the science itself. A few scientific skeptics remain but most of them are not climatologists and too often they are funded (& promoted) by the industry.
If the Oil and Gas Industry succeeds with their global public relations campaign, and little real substantive action is taken to stabilize climate, which is precisely what would happen with strictly voluntary initiatives, then global temperatures are expected to increase towards the upper range of the scientific estimate. The consequences to most of humanity will be dramatic and costly. Canada is especially vulnerable to rapid climate change given our northern location. In fact, the social and financial costs to Canadians will be so high, that the current debate over GDP impact and employment will seem in hindsight both foolish and sad.
The real but often taken for granted contribution of a relatively stable climate to economic well-being is very great. In fact it is so large, that it overshadows the current Kyoto Accord cost/benefit analysis by many multiples. Yet, at this pivotal moment in time, we are treated to the Conservative environment minister Chris Stockwell’s public comment that most Ontarians’s think Kyoto is the name of a car!. These patronizing remarks are not accurate, and raise a serious doubt that the Conservative government would in fact go beyond promises and actually implement an Ontario strategy for greenhouse gas reduction.
The 1992 Climate Accord signed in Kyoto, Japan was a first small but critical step towards climate stabilization. Global ratification of the Kyoto Accord will begin a process of adaptation that will have as a model the success of the Montreal Agreement that addressed the production of ozone-depleting substances. In particular, the next round of climate stabilization negotiations must introduce penalties for non-compliance as was present in the Montreal Agreement.
As a Province we must overcome the short-sightedness
of vested interests and insist the federal government fully implements the
Kyoto Agreement it ratified last year. Already there is evidence of sector-specific
exemptions and the suspicion of back-room deals around the implementation
strategy. The Ontario Green Party is committed to a transparent process that
meets and exceeds Kyoto targets until climate stabilization is achieved. Many
of the policies in this document, if implemented, would take us well past
the initial Kyoto targets. The global economic and environmental benefits
to any jurisdiction, that achieves better energy use through innovation and
technology, will be substantial. With the right choices and investments, MORE
JOBS and not fewer will flow from this initiative. In addition, the savings
on energy not consumed will be in the billions of dollars. In the future we
can also tell our children and grand-children that we made a difference when
it mattered most.