Why Kyoto?

One of the most common criticisms of Kyoto is that if we fail to meet our targets, that we will have to send billions of dollars to buy ‘credits’ from foreign nations, which can then use the revenue to boost consumption.

1. We have to at least ATTEMPT to meet the targets. Not making the attempt is a moral failure. If our society, which has profited the most from burning of hydrocarbons, won’t take leadership, we can bet that other societies will use our failure as an excuse for theirs.

2. If we don’t achieve the reductions, and have to buy credits, Kyoto to my knowledge doesn’t specify what currency we need to use to pay for our credits.
What I propose that instead of blindly shipping money in brown paper bags, that we negotiate with other countries to buy credits using Canadian assistance, technology and machinery that is built solely to reduce GHG emissions in those foreign countries. This has the added benefit of CREATING Canadian jobs, and ensuring that Canada becomes a world leader in GHG reduction technology.

We must recognize that, Kyoto or no, fossil fuel use will at some point have to be reduced. The industries upon which our economy is based will have to change to reflect this eventually. Canada’s current automotive industry will change - if not forced to by government, then in future by fuel prices and consumers making better choices. Our resource-based economy will change - it will be soon that even all the oil we can possibly export won’t make up for the depletion elsewhere in the world. Do we really want to pollute all the water sources in our North just to supply the Americans’ SUV driving needs for a few years?

If we drag our feet and resist this change, our economy will suffer for it in the long run. If we make inconvenient adjustments now, future adjustments will not be anywhere near as painful.

Protecting the environment and conserving the resources which sustain our life and our economy has to be our nation’s #1 priority, even if it means short-term profit growth is restrained. It’s a matter of national security, and the danger is hundreds of times bigger than the danger from terrorism. This danger requires that we make the appropriate sacrifices to combat it today, and not to leave the problem to future generations.