When there was the big enviornment summit in Africa, Canada got an award for doing the least for the enviornment. Sweden apperently is dong the best. I don't know if these people realize this or not, but you could fit at least 15 Swedens within Canada, or more. Canada is a huge sprawlling expanse with it's population equally spread out. I was in PEI this summer with my sister, in Charlottetown and asked someone how long it would take to get to a certain place, they said, a long time, about 45 min. We both chuckled and said it was a good thing they don't live out west, where it takes 3 hours just to get to the mountains, from where I live. PEI is the exception. The point is we don't have the infastructure in place to support public transportation between towns, and the distance between them isn't condusive to riding a bicycle to where you want to go, especially in the winter. Our population isn't centered within the big cities where public transport is feasible, alot of people live in the country and on acreages. Vehicles are not a luxury in this country, they are a necessity. I can safely say that we don't want to pay more taxes to pay for the infustracture, it's not that we wouldn't support the idea, but as we all know, the more money the gov't gets it's grubby little hands on, the more likely they are to mismanage and misappropriate., which is why we don't like paying taxes in the first place, we don't get value for our money. Sorry, got sidetracked. Our now turfed enviornent minister, was trying to re-invent the wheel, the work has already been done with Kyoto, by experts no less, now I understand she was looking out for "Big Oil", 'cause without them our economy would be in the toilet. But you never know until we try, maybe we need to get free from "Big Oil's" grip and let innovation with technology fly, maybe we could be a major player on the world stage, spin off new economic opportunities, and do some good to the enviornment in the process. (Sorry for being long winded).
Canada's poor enviornmental track record
- Thread starter miniboss
- Start date
You are correct. What works in Sweden may not work here. But none the less we do lead the world in water and electricity consumption. I think alot of the times we take for granted the bounty of this land. If we applied European techniques here we would be the wunderkids of the green movement.
miniboss said:
You make a good point. But the problem lies in equitable sharing of the burden which will never happen has no one wants to be the first to sacrifice a good thing. The equitable sharing needs to be sincere among the nations too, but corruption occurs there too. If X nation is succesful in dropping the global pollution 3%, is there a guarantee another nation will not suck up that 3% by increasing pollution? How are we to monitor who's doing their share. It's impossible.
Whenever we get a meeting of countries to solve problems, everyone pats each other on the back, then they go back to the people to implement the change. The problem starts then. First the wealthy want to know how it impacts them, and they say they agree but will start sacrificing until X does his part, the next group, Mfg, says they agree but won't start until a proviso is in place that they can trade pollution points with another company who meets it's requirements, the system is implemented, and still no change in the pollution levels. The last group has no defence whatsoever as they are simply trying to exist. The politicians are just looking for a patsy now as they want to make their party look good. Charlie works on a rig in Hayter Alberta and commutes home on weekends to Edmonton in his smokey 89 Chevy, hoping that some day he can afford a smokless car. He is conscientious and is willing but he just can't afford it right now. No such luck, he gets the regulation dumped on him, and his part is touted has the best effort by the nation in the next round of talks. "All" Canadians are seen has doing an excellent job on the pollution problem when everyone knows it's one group carrying the load.
What has happened is the poor carries the burden of the nation's problem, and the remainder in the nation get off scott free, and the pollution problem remains. The mechanics make a fortune, and the guy with the Chevy gets a heavier load.
I say we tell the world "no deal" until we see a concerted effort reported by a watchdog that doesn't have a vested interest in the outcome, and his job will be to monitor conformance to global regs. The world does nothing if the US chucks out Kyoto, and it gets to suffer for ever more increasing floods and prarie tornadoes. Besides, it has had the longest run of all nations in the motor vehicle contribution and personally it's the spoiled brat of the Accord. We need a prime minister with spunk that will help the poor of this nation, and stop trying to prop up our image. I don't give a hoot about image, but I care about the poor.
Lets start seeing it the way it really is. We all work togeather, and go down with the ship togeather, period.
AndyF
It gets me how people complain about the government not doing anything, and yet they still get in there SUV and drive to the corner store, by themselves, to get one item. I can’t believe how many SUV's I see on the road with only one person in it! Why buy an SUV if you drive alone to work?
Why even drive to work? Most city people can take buses, subways or transit trains. Why not make choice to live close to work? I don't own a car myself. I own a motorcycle for the summer trips and get all my ice fishing and downhill and xc skiing done in this area. At most you might need a minivan if you have a large family for getting groceries, taking kids to doctor and family vacations. We all still live in status symbol land.