Daily Archives: April 23, 2016

climate science, Ecocide, Ecocide ALert, Politics, Preventing Ecocide, solutions

Without real action, the Paris Accord is worthless

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Justin Trudeau addresses a crowd in New York City Friday morning ahead of signing the Paris Accord. Photo from Twitter

By Charles Mandel, reposted from the NationalObserver, Apr 22, 2016

The signing of the Paris Accord on Earth Day in New York by as many as 170 countries - including Canada - will undoubtedly be declared historic. In truth, it is just a beginning.

In the lead up to the accord, Canada has certainly talked the talk: the Canadian contingent was key in setting the ceiling of 1.5 degrees Celsius for global warming that will form part of Friday’s accord.

Canada’s commitment calls for a reduction in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

But a report released Thursday from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) doesn’t hold out much hope for that target.

It noted that while a number of provincial governments have put in place “moderate measures” to limit emissions, they are unlikely to achieve the Canadian target and only represent a first step.

The PBO said further work to meet the reductions is needed in reducing emissions from coal use; improving the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks; and undertaking a detailed analysis and projection of the contribution of managed forests to removing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere.

At the same time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been unsuccessful in reaching any kind of national unity on how reductions will work; each province is pursuing its own agenda.

Accord signing comes amidst renewed calls for pipelines

Nor does the Canadian government’s renewed interest in pipelines bode well for any agreement.

In mid-Apri, there was widespread criticism from all sides over news alleging that Trudeau had instructed key officials to prepare a strategy for approving major new pipeline projects.

John Stone, a former climatologist with Environment Canada, and vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group II, said that building more pipelines is scientifically incompatible with meeting Canada’s climate change commitments.

“If you build a pipeline, you’re going to fill it with tar sands that’s going to increase our emissions and that’s not going to allow us to meet our climate change commitments,” said Stone, in an interview with National Observer.

He said it was impossible to burn the fossil fuel reserves currently available and meet the government’s objective of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

At the same time, Alberta has renewed its push for pipelines. At the recent NDP convention in Edmonton, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley declared: “The way to [help Alberta’s economy] is to build pipelines to tidewater that will allow us to diversify our markets and upgrade products here in Canada.”

And in British Columbia, the Christy Clark government persists in its plan to float the provincial economy on massive LNG projects - despite opposition from much of her own electorate.

The Liberal and NDP governments would appear to be talking out of both sides of their mouths.

The planet has already changed

All this occurs in the context of an ever-hotter world. In late January, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that 2015 temperatures were the warmest since modern record keeping began in 1880.

In 2016, the trend has continued with each successive month shattering previous records for heat.

Compared to a rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius, a jump in the global temperature to two degrees would double the severity of crop failures, water shortages and heatwaves in many regions, phys.org reported Thursday.

A U.S. science advisory panel recently warned of a fundamental change in sea water chemistry from ocean acidification. Carbon dioxide emissions from human activity is responsible.

“I cannot continue to hope that our planet is not going to change radically. It already is changed,” marine scientist Ruth Gates recently told New Yorker writer, Elizabeth Kolbert.

Gates studies coral reefs and has observed first-hand massive reef bleaching events caused from the warming ocean waters, which were nicknamed the “blob.”

Scientist James Hansen issued a stark warning in late March over ice melt from Greenland. He said the melt “raises questions about how soon we’ll pass the point of no return in which we lock in consequences that cannot be reversed on any time scale that people care about.”

As dire as all this is, we cannot give up hope.

The transformation of the economy from fossil fuels to renewable technology is clearly underway.

In late February, Clean Energy Canada released a report showing that 2015 was the first time more money was invested in renewable power globally (US$367 billion) than in new power from fossil fuels (US$253 billion).

Much needed rain in California has helped ease that state’s drought, although the most recent update from the government drought portal doesn’t declare it over yet.

ExxonMobil is the focus of a multi-state investigation after separate investigations by InsideClimate News and the LA Times/Columbia School of Journalism revealed that the company had known of the threat of climate change internally for several decades.

But there is still much work to be done.

National climate change policy needed

In Berlin, Ottmar Edenhofer, director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, issued the following statement: “In order to limit climate risks, the Paris agreement has to be implemented quickly—as clear as the goals are, the way to get there is uncertain.

“Worldwide, a huge number of coal-fired power plants are being built. Here, only the economic principle can be of help: those who harm the climate, to the detriment of all, have to pay for it. This would trigger investments in clean innovations.”

It is vital that Canada sort itself out and takes real action on climate change. Trudeau needs to clarify his intentions around pipelines and show firm leadership in guiding the country as a whole toward an unified climate change policy.

Peruvian activist, Diana Rios, may have put it best at Thursday’s Forests and Climate panel in New York City. She was talking about indigenous peoples and their stewardship of the trees, but her call to action could easily apply to the Paris Accord.

Rios said: “It’s not just a piece of paper. This paper, you just write on a piece of paper. It’s worthless.”

Mr. Prime Minister, Canadians demand real action on climate change.

SOURCE

Activism, climate science, Politics, solutions, Sustainability

Canada needs to rethink energy

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There is massive potential for innovation and expansion in the renewable energy sector, which is Canada’s real future as an energy superpower.

Workers stand on the roof at 2 Airpark Place , installing the 107 kWp solar system for Guelph Renewable Energy Co-operative.
Workers stand on the roof at 2 Airpark Place , installing the 107 kWp solar system for Guelph Renewable Energy Co-operative. FILE PHOTO

By: Howard Ramos Mark Stoddart Catherine Potvin, reposted from TheStar, Apr 21, 2016

Canadians need to think about energy differently. Like former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, they conflate energy with oil. He was fond of saying the country is an “emerging energy superpower” but in making that claim he forgot that it will become one because of its clean energy assets and potential to develop them, not oil.

This is a mistake also seen on the other side of the political spectrum, where oil is often placed at the centre of discussions about Canada’s energy system, missing opportunities to talk about other energy sources. Doing so ignores the fact that Canada is uniquely endowed with a wide range of clean energy assets. There is massive potential for innovation and expansion in the renewable energy sector, which is the country’s real future as an energy superpower.

The Sustainable Canada Dialogues proposed evidence-based climate solutions from more than 60 scholars from across the country. It found that Canada already produces more than 70 per cent of its electricity from low-carbon emissions sources and it is well within reach to have 100 per cent low carbon electricity by 2035. This is due to existing hydro assets and abundant potential to expand wind and solar energy subject to assessment of social and environmental impacts.

Canada already exports electricity to the United States and can continue to do so through renewable sources. Provinces such as Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador already have major hydroelectricity resources. The Southern Prairies, areas near the Great Lakes, the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and much of northern British Columbia, Yukon, Nunavut, Quebec and Newfoundland are all areas with great potential for wind farming. Solar energy resources are viable across much of southern Canada, especially in the Prairie Provinces. At least one town in the Northwest Territories, Colville Lake, aims to run entirely on the sun’s energy, replacing expensive and aging diesel generators.

The most innovative companies in the business sector have already recognized the economic potential of renewable energy. According to Clean Energy Canada, a record $367 billion (U.S.) was invested last year in renewable power, which is almost double the amount invested in fossil fuels. Environmental sustainability is not counter to economic growth — in fact, it is essential to growth over the long term. Already more people in Canada are employed by clean-energy sector jobs, almost 24,000, than the oil sands, about 22,000 at its peak.

Some traditional oil and gas companies are also recognizing the potential for innovation and have become among the biggest investors in renewable energy. Many companies are increasingly proactive in shifting their business from only oil and gas to expanding to renewable and other energy sources as part of a broader approach to our energy system. For instance Suncor, which issues annual sustainability reports and has a climate action plan, has already begun investing and has committed to investing almost $1 billion in renewable energy.

Despite such initiatives and Canada’s vast renewable energy potential, governments across the country appear reluctant to adopt explicit plans for a transition to renewable energy. This is something that foresighted and innovative oil producing countries, such as the United Kingdom and Norway, are already doing. Their national climate action plans, among the best in the world, explicitly include the oil and gas sector as key parts of the discussion in responding to climate change. In effect, to avoid global warming of more than 2 degrees C, renewable energy must be fully embraced in the next decades.

In order to truly fulfill the promise of Canada as an energy superpower for the 21st century we need to stop thinking that energy only equals oil. Only by thinking more broadly about our energy system will Canada realize its future as an innovative energy producer. Only then will space be opened for governments, businesses and communities to work together to transition to a truly sustainable economy.

SOURCE

Howard Ramos is Professor of Sociology at Dalhousie University.

Mark Stoddart is Associate Professor of Sociology at Memorial University.

Catherine Potvin is Professor of Biology at McGill University. She is the Canada Research Chair in Climate Change Mitigation and Tropical Forests.

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climate science, Ecocide, Politics

Study reveals greater climate impacts of 2C temperature rise

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Analysis of difference between 1.5C and 2C of warming finds extra 0.5C would mean longer heatwaves, greater droughts and threats to crops and coral reefs

Local villagers on the dried river bed in Satkhira, Bangladesh, one of the most vulnerable continental countries to climate change. Photograph: Zakir Hossain Chowdhury / Barcro

By , reposted from The Guardian, Apr 21, 2016

A difference of half a degree centigrade may be barely noticeable day to day, but the difference between 1.5C and 2C of global warming is a shift into a new, more dangerous climate regime, according to the first comprehensive analysis of the issue.

The scientists found the additional 0.5C would lead to longer heatwaves, greater droughts and, in the tropics, reduced crop yield and all coral reefs being put in grave danger.

The global climate change deal agreed in Paris in December pledged to “hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C.” Vulnerable countries, such as low-lying islands, have warned that 2C of climate change would wipe their nations from the map.

Understanding the different impacts from 1.5C or 2C of warming has been made more urgent by the recent run of record temperatures, with 2014 and 2015 breaking long-term records and recent months smashing previous highs. In February, the global temperature was 1.34C above the average from 1951-1980, according to Nasa data.

The new research was published in the journal Earth System Dynamics, and lead author Carl Schleussner, a scientific adviser at Climate Analytics in Germany, said: “We analysed the climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [and] considered 11 different indicators including extreme weather events, water availability, crop yields, coral reef degradation and sea-level rise. We found significant differences [between 1.5C and 2C] for all the impacts we considered.”

The researchers found: “For heat-related extremes, the additional 0.5C marks the difference between events at the upper limit of present-day natural variability and a new climate regime, particularly in tropical regions.”

The analysis found that regional dry spells increased by 7% with 1.5C of warming but by 11% with 2C, while sea level rises by 10cm more in the hotter scenario. Some regions would be more affected than others with, for example, water availability in the Mediterranean falling by 9% under 1.5C of warming but 17% under 2C.

The research found crop yields might rise in some high-latitude regions, but “tropical regions like west Africa, south-east Asia, as well as central and northern South America are projected to face substantial local yield reductions, particularly for wheat and maize.”

Coral reefs, which provide vital nurseries for many fish on which people rely on for food, would be particularly affected by an additional 0.5C of warming. “In a [2C] scenario, virtually all tropical coral reefs are projected to be at risk of severe degradation due to temperature-induced bleaching from 2050 onwards.” This is reduced to 70% by 2100 for the 1.5C scenario, the scientists found.

Jacob Schewe, one of the research team and at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said: “Some researchers have argued that there is little difference in climate change impacts between 1.5C and 2C. Indeed, it is necessary to account for natural variability, model uncertainties, and other factors that can obscure the picture. We did that in our study, and by focusing on key indicators at the regional level, we clearly show that there are significant differences in impacts.”

Prof Nigel Arnell, at the University of Reading, UK, who was not involved in the research, welcomed the new study: “This study demonstrates that the impacts in 2100 are lower under a 1.5C world than under a 2C world and that the difference is greater for some sectors than for others. Impacts on heat extremes are most affected.

“The study also shows that the rate of change over time is really important for future impacts, so in order to really understand the differences between a 1.5C and a 2C world we need to run more comprehensive global climate models with lower rates of [warming] than used so far to see how the climate system responds.”

SOURCE

World’s scientists to join forces on major 1.5C climate change report

1.5C marks the point, say many scientists, where there is a real danger of serious ‘tipping points’ in the world’s climate. Photograph: Alex Hofford/EPA

By John Vidal, reposted from The Guardian, Apr 14, 2016

Scientists from around the world will contribute to a major UN report on how global temperatures can be held to a rise of 1.5C and what the impact might be on sea level rises, the bleaching of corals and biodiversity.

The special report, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will assess all the available peer-reviewed science along with other special reports on how land and oceans are being affected by climate change. These will look at the melting of ice in polar and mountain regions, as well as the impact of climate change on cities and food supplies.

“We now have a roadmap for the next comprehensive assessment which will be published in 2022, in good time for the global stocktake by governments in 2023,” said Hoesung Lee, chair of the panel, in Nairobi.

The 1.5C report was requested by governments meeting at the Paris climate talks in December where countries unexpectedly agreed to “pursue efforts” to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. 1.5C marks the point, say many scientists, where there is a real danger of serious “tipping points” in the world’s climate. Temperatures have already risen 1C and show little sign of slowing.

“Before the Paris meeting governments were focussing on [a rise of ] 2C. The latest assessment by the IPCC showed that some serious risks to corals and sea-level rise emerge at 1.5C. But there was not much available [science] on these topics. There is a lot we need to find out about 1.5C. We are ready to embark on this,” said Lee.

“Limiting warming to 1.5C will be a significant challenge,” said Myles Allen, Professor of Geosystem Science at Oxford university’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI).

“In a nutshell, it means we have to reduce emissions twice as fast as we would have done to limit warming to 2C – and that was already looking challenging. Inevitably, people are already starting to ask if it is worth it. These are big tough questions, and we haven’t much time to answer them, so the academic community needs to step up.”

The University of Oxford will host a major 1.5C conference later this year to bring together climate experts, researchers, policymakers, businesses and members of civil society from around the world.

The IPCC meeting in Nairobi comes ahead of next week’s UN meeting in New York when 130 countries will sign the Paris agreement. “It will be the biggest number of countries ever to have signed an international agreement. It will be ratified when countries that account for at least 55% of global emissions countries have signed,” said a spokesman for the IPCC.

The IPCC is responsible for providing governments with authoritative overviews of the latest climate science. Every seven years it produces a “synthesis” report which sums up the scientific knowledge on climate change – the most recent one warned global warming would have “severe, widespread, and irreversible impacts”.

SOURCE

conservation, democracy, Ecocide, Politics

The Leap Manifesto takes climate change seriously

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Discussions of the NDP’s Leap Manifesto often ignore the life-and-death consequences of climate change.

Certainly there are ample sources of constructive work for the good people of Alberta, a conversion to a Civilian Conservation Corps to restore the forest, water and soil ecosystem so that people have a chance to live.

By Judith Deutsch, reposted from Letters, TheStar, Apr 22, 2016

There have been a number of columns in the Star about the climate change Leap Manifesto.

Tom Walkom writes approvingly of the manifesto and alludes to the dismissive characterization of Leap being “looney.”

Gillian Steward’s is the latest iteration, accusing “Leapers” of irresponsibly “cobbling together” a document “oblivious to what is going on in the rest of the country.”

Steward represents this as a conflict between persons, namely Rachel Notley representing Canadian sensibility, vs. Torontonians Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis.

What is unconscionably and persistently left out, though, is the life-and-death human consequences of climate change.

It is past the time to speak only about polar bears and butterflies. In 2009, Oxfam and the Global Humanitarian Forum established that climate change impacts already caused 300,000 human fatalities per year.

To save countless lives, it is imperative to drastically and immediately cut emissions. It is now inevitable that hundreds of millions of people in coastal and low-lying regions will need to relocate.

Tar sands extraction contaminants already cause fatalities in nearby First Nations communities. The entire life cycle of tar sands is lethal: there is the destruction of the boreal forest carbon sink, the permanent loss of vast quantities of water. There are the end uses of refined bitumen by the Kyoto-exempt U.S. military.

Certainly there are ample sources of constructive work for the good people of Alberta, a conversion to a Civilian Conservation Corps to restore the forest, water and soil ecosystem so that people have a chance to live.

SOURCE

Cultural Genocide, Politics

Bill Honouring Indigenous Rights Gets a Do-Over

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Tories killed last attempt to enshrine First Nations’ rights in law. Now, a second chance.

Idle No More signs
NDP MP Romeo Saganash is taking another shot at tabling a bill to recognize rights of Indigenous people in Canada. Photo: rmnoa357 / Shutterstock.com.

By Jeremy J. Nuttall, reposted from TheTyee.ca, Apr 22, 20016

Nearly a year since a similar effort was killed by the Tory government, a bill to recognize Indigenous people’s rights in accordance with a United Nations declaration was tabled Thursday in Ottawa.

This time, the bill could pass.

“I’m pretty confident,” said Romeo Saganash, a residential school survivor and the NDP MP behind the private members’ bill.

Saganash’s bill would primarily “ensure the laws of Canada respect” the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, meaning Canadian laws would have to abide by the document’s stipulations.

The Quebec MP spent more than two decades working on the declaration, which was finalized in 2008 and endorsed by Canada in 2010.

The document affirms a variety of rights for Indigenous people across the world, including control over developments affecting their lands and recognition of their suffering over past injustices.

“There are political rights that are enshrined; there are economic, social and cultural rights that are enshrined,” Saganash said. “All of these elements are contained in the UN declaration.”

He hopes the declaration will serve as the framework for reconciliation between First Nations and the Government in Canada.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has also called on the government to adopt the declaration for that purpose.

Saganash said the bill would also give more leverage to First Nations communities when dealing with governments.

Liberals supported previous bill

The MP’s attempt to table a similar bill last year was voted down by the then-Conservative government, but he said considering the Tories’ track record on such issues, it wasn’t a surprise.

“I even made a last pitch on the very day it was debated and voted on, and it was a flat no,” he said. “I saw it coming.”

Back then the Liberal party supported the proposed legislation, which gives Saganash reason to hope it will pass this time.

Comments made by Justin Trudeau at the Assembly of First Nations last summer, before he was prime minister, might also buoy those supporting the bill.

“Reconciliation starts with recognizing and respecting aboriginal title and rights, including Treaty rights,” Trudeau said in his address to the assembly.

“A Liberal government will do just that. Not only in accordance with constitutional obligations, but also with those enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett has made no statement on whether the Liberals would support the legislation this time around.

But Saganash said he’s had many private discussions with Liberal MPs about support for the bill, and he’s been pleased with the outcome.

“This [bill] is where it starts, and I hope in the future it has a positive impact on how we deal with Indigenous Peoples,” he said.

SOURCE

Activism, biodiversity, conservation, Cultural Genocide, Ecocide, Ecocide ALert, Politics

You can’t build a new relationship with First Nations and allow Site C dam to proceed

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Preparation for Site C dam has already altered the Peace Valley (Photo credit: Garth Lenz)

Reposted from DavidSuzuki, Apr 22, 2016

These images reveal the impacts of early preparation work for Site C project, a planned mega-dam to be built on prime agricultural land that supports abundant wildlife — without the consent of the Treaty 8 First Nations, who are fighting the dam in court.

Meanwhile, a UN committee concluded in March that by failing to provide adequate environmental protections, Canada has fallen short of meeting its international human rights obligations.

Imagine the further impact on environmental rights and reconciliation if 107 kilometres of this territory is flooded.

Canada can choose to be a leader on environmental rights and build a new relationship with First Nations. By protecting this land, Prime Minister Trudeau can send a message that the old way of doing things is no longer acceptable.

It's not too late to stop Site C. Send a letter to your MP now.

Since David Suzuki first fought to save this beautiful, abundant area from dam-related flooding decades ago, the reasons to stop the Site C dam have been growing.

PM Trudeau says that building a new relationship with First Nations is a priority. Let’s show him we want that too — and we want environmental rights to be respected.

Yes. I want the government to stop Site C.

Ecocide ALert, Politics

Every Day Is An Earth Day – The Dangers and Opportunities

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Getty Images

By Rolly Montpellier, reposted from BoomerWarrior, Apr 22, 2016

This post is a reproduction of a media kit released by Citizens Climate Lobby Canada to commemorate Earth Day. Because of the climate crisis encroaching on our civilization, I believe that every day should be Earth Day. We must tackle head on the dangers and opportunities that lie ahead.

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Across the country children are picking up litter and planting trees, oblivious to the dangerous brink civilization is at. Most adults should know that a catastrophic crisis is looming. But do they really know how close we are now? The world is at a crossroads: danger and opportunity lie ahead.

Every Day is an Earth Day

On Earth Day, Canada is one of the countries at the United Nations in New York City, alongside over170 countries, including the USA and China, to submit our national climate plan. But Canada will be submitting inadequate targets of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions: 30% below 2005 levels in 2030. Our inadequate targets are not consistent with interpretations of an equitable approach to reach a 2°C pathway, let alone the 1.5 °C pathway Canada committed to at the climate talks in Paris. And, a February 2016 report from Environment Canada indicated that Canada is not on target to meet even our inadequate goals.

A window of opportunity has opened. In March, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and all territorial and provincial Premiers signed the Vancouver Declaration on Clean Growth and Climate Change. They all confirmed that meeting Canada’s climate targets must remain a priority — and devised next steps. By October 2016, Canada will have a national price on carbon. How effective that carbon price is will set the stage for future growth in clean tech jobs in Canada. Since 2008, Canada has lost 48% of its global share of the clean tech market.

Meanwhile it seems a new form denialism may be at work in Canada: one meant to persuade the public that new fossil fuel infrastructure is necessary, and climate change is perhaps not that serious. PM Trudeau, in the absence of clear plans for tackling the climate crisis, is seemingly convinced oil pipelines are a priority.

Opposition to oil pipelines in the past decade is rooted mostly in the climate crisis and First Nations sovereignty. Without a socially, economically and scientifically balanced national climate and energy plan, any plan for pipelines will be met with resistance because the politicians and industrialists who want these pipelines do not have the social license to proceed.

The Dangers Are Out There

Global temperature records were obliterated in February 2016. The average surface temperature of the Earth north of the equator was 2C above normal during that month.

After an unusually warm Arctic winter, the 2016 Arctic sea ice extent is breaking records. Greenland is experiencing its earliest start to spring melting by a longshot – almost two months ahead of schedule – marking the first time Greenland spring melting has begun in April.

Warm summer weather in the Southern Hemisphere has led to the worst bleaching ever of the Australian Great Barrier Reef impacting more than half of the reef severely, changing this glorious reef forever.

Scientists are not alarmists: they have ESLD. In a 2012 study scientists were found to be scientifically biased to Err on the Side of Least Drama towards cautious estimates. In February 2016, Sir Nicholas Stern, author of the 2006 Stern Report on the Economics of Climate Change published in the journal Nature: Current Climate Models are Grossly Misleading. He called on scientists and engineers to make better climate models to help policymakers make better decisions.

A new cloud analysis study in Science found that climate models have underestimated the roles clouds play in warming. Thus warming is now predicted to be worse than predicted in previous models. A 2016 study published in the journal Nature warns that, if GHG continue at their current pace, the collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet could drive sea levels 2 meters higher by the end of the century. The Lancet published a study predicting that food shortages from climate change could result in 500,000 deaths less than four decades from now.

The rate at which carbon emissions are rising is the highest in 66 million years, eclipsing the Paleo-Eocene-Thermal Maximum (PETM) of 56 million years ago when feedback loops kicked in. Temperatures rose considerably during the PETM and resulted in a 5C increase and massive acidification and death in the oceans over a geologically short time period, 10,000 years. On our current trajectory, humanity is on track to push global temperatures up by approximately 4.8C above pre-industrial temperatures by the end of this century – thus in 350 years (1750 -2100).

In April 2016, in a Nature article, the first estimate from economic modeling found that climate change could cut the world’s financial assets between $2.5 – 24 trillion USD. These are direct losses from extreme weather events.

A new study theorizes that climate change might be moving the position of the earth’s axis, giving new meaning to the term “tipping point.”

These are the facts Citizens’ Climate Lobbyists across Canada face head on. The planet is in a crisis and currently, the poor are being impacted: 10 million Ethopians will run out of food in May because of climate change. We must act now. We have hope, based on fact there is still time but not much, and that we can mitigate climate crisis in time. Since 2010 we have been sharing a solution with Parliamentarians.

The Opportunities: Carbon Pricing and Clean Energy

The myth is busted. Canada can grow the economy and protect the environment. The world, including Canada, can convert to 100 per cent renewable energy – from wind, water and solar by 2050 andsave money at the same time according to a November 2015 study from Stanford University.

Check this out: Standard & Poor (S&P) reported in January 2016 that the Paris Climate deal willunleash $16.5 trillion dollars in clean tech investment globally over the next 15 years. Just imagine what will happen when there is a clear market signal for clean tech investment via a transparent carbon price.

In February 2016, Sir Nicholas Stern said: “The twin defining challenges of our century are overcoming poverty and managing climate change. If we can tackle these issues together, we will create a secure and prosperous world for generations to come. If we don’t, the future is at grave risk.”

Currently, the Ontario Environmental Law Association is warning that time is running out to make sure Ontario’s cap and trade policy for carbon emissions doesn’t push more people into poverty.

In February 2016, PM Trudeau first proposed plans for a nationally integrated carbon price. Citizens’ Climate Lobby recommends Carbon Fee and Dividend as the overarching policy integrated nationally.

Carbon fee and dividend is a revenue neutral price on carbon pollution which:

  • Collects a fee on carbon-based fuels when extracted or imported starting at $15 tonne CO2
  • The fee increases steadily each year at a rate of $10 tonne CO2 per year
  • Pays all proceeds to Canadian households on an equitable basis via a cheque

The predictably increasing carbon price will send a clear market signal to fuel innovation and investment in the clean energy economy without burdening taxpayers. Most Canadians, especially the poor, will receive more in the dividend than their increase in costs. Thus Carbon fee and Dividend will also reduce inequality.

An April 2015 study from Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission determined that the Canadian economy would grow by an additional 3.7% by 2020 with a well-designed carbon pricing policy compared to using regulatory mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions.

Currently, Ontario MP Michael Chong, a potential federal Conservative leadership candidate, has openly supported carbon pricing. As well, an April 5, 2016 poll found that 6 out of 10 Ontariansapprove of PC Ontario leader Patrick Brown’s revenue neutral model of pricing carbon.

Canadian economist Lars Osberg makes compelling arguments for the efficacy of Carbon Fee and Dividend. He also acknowledges that Carbon Fee and Dividend recognizes the property rights of all citizens which can be a populist platform for either the left or the right.

Enough with the climate brinkmanship. Opportunity is knocking. Political will for a low carbon economy and carbon pricing is beginning to manifest in unlikely places. It’s time to price carbon transparently and https://www.boomerwarrior.org/2016/04/every-day-is-an-earth-day-the-dangers-and-opportunities/carve out our slice of the global multi-trillion-dollar clean tech industry.

Carbon Fee and Dividend is an exceptionally good news story for Earth Day. Think about it. Canada can finally begin do our part and tackle the climate crisis, while at the same time create jobs and reduce income inequality with Carbon Fee and Dividend. SOURCE

RollyRolly Montpellier is the Founder and Managing Editor of BoomerWarrior.Org. He’s a Climate Reality leader, a Blogger and a Climate Activist. He’s a member of Climate Reality Canada, Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Ottawa) and 350.Org (Ottawa), the Ethical Team (as an influencer) and Global Population Speakout.

Rolly has been published widely in both print and online publications. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest.