Good environmental news for Canada?

As most people know, Canada and many other developed countries have failed miserably at following the Kyoto Protocol and other environmental plans to cut down carbon emissions. With the chance of using more renewable resources for energy and new technology that helps limit our carbon footprint, you would think that Canada, would have already adopted a strong environmental plan.

I continue reading people's comments on sites such as CBC about their frustration with Canada's government. The government has continued to use the excuse of politics getting in the way of creating a plan to reduce our environmental impact. Apparently it would be too economically damaging to cut our carbon emissions drastically.

In my opinion, the environmental damage will (soon) one day be so destructive that politics or not, we're going to have to take responsibility. I'm not an economist, but when you think logically, wouldn't there be a worse impact on Canada's economic system if we wait for that day?

Every news site I visited today has an article about Liberal Leader Stephan Dion's new carbon tax plan. It seems that our Liberals are taking advantage of the fact that our Conservative government isn't doing anything about the impact Canada is having on the environment.

There has already been attacks by other parties about the plan. Even if the plan isn't perfect yet, how can anyone attack it when we aren't following any plan right now? I think that with an election coming in a year and a bit, other parties might be surprised at how many people will vote based on these types of plans.

Environmental responsibility is increasingly becoming a much needed 'trend,' with more and more news coverage on what other cities or countries are doing to help the environment and limit their carbon footprint. The past two nights I've seen TV news coverage on teenagers who are going out and planting trees, carpooling, riding their bikes, etc. These teenagers are smart, and will become our new voters over the next few years.

It's time Canada acknowledges the current and next generation's concern for the environment. I think every party's priority should be to make a plan, and whoever gets in, better follow through with it. Canadians are getting fed up with fake promises and these so-called "politics."

L

Global Footprint Network

Recently I read in a local newspaper about a website that allows you to calculate how many "earths" and global hectares we would need if everyone lived like you (called a footprint.) I did the quiz, realizing ahead of time that life in North America uses a lot more resources than life in underdeveloped / poor countries.

After answering the more detailed questions to get a more accurate result of my footprint, the world would need 4.4 earths to sustain everyone if they lived like me. Like I said, it wasn't a complete surprise but still kind of scary to think about. It asks you about what type of food you eat, if the food is local, energy consumption at home, how often you drive, etc etc.

The quiz allows you to change your answers to see what could be causing such a high use of resources. It then tells you what you changed that caused your global footprint to increase or decrease.

I found it interesting that reducing how often I'm on a plane reduced my overall "required earths" by 0.3. I don't even fly that often, probably 3 times a year. This fact makes me semi-support the recent increase in fuel-surcharges and baggage charges from airlines.

I've always had an interest in environmental sustainability, and this site has certainly caused me to be more conscious over the last few weeks. There is a bit of a glitch though - I am unable to ever get my resource usage down to a level where we would only need 1 earth to sustain everyone if they lived like me. A few reasons for this include:
- A lot of food I eat cannot be bought locally because it isn't in season for half the year.
- I work and live in one city currently, but go to school 20 minutes away.
- Buses to the city I attend school would take 1.5 hours due to the weird route it takes.
- My bus service, as mentioned in the other post, doesn't have a convenient schedule any more.
- Equipment for renewable energy is too expensive still. Hopefully this will change as more cities around the world continue to sell more and find new ways to reduce production costs.
- And, I just like meat. Apparently if I ate less or no meat, I would reduce my footprint.

The site also gives tips on reducing the amount of resources you use, information on national resource usage, carbon footprints and more.

Check out the Global Footprint Network and see what your footprint is.