To the Editor:
Carbon dioxide's life in the atmosphere varies from 30 to 3,000 years. Thus much of the carbon dioxide that was released in the early Industrial Age is still heating the atmosphere, and the carbon dioxide that we release today will be heating it for a long time into the future.
About a quarter of the fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions will stay in the air "forever," i.e. more than 500 years. Saskatchewan's greenhouse gas emissions are 74 tonnes per capita, the highest in Canada. The global average is 4 tonnes per capita. If Saskatchewan were a country, we would have the third highest per capita emissions in the world.
I have not heard any party leader mention climate change. It's all about the money from NON renewable resources. We have a moral responsibility to act on climate change while we can make a difference. Is money all we care about? If so, then we will deserve the disasters coming our way.
Are the following truths? You can have infinite growth on a finite planet. Humans are a super species, the laws of nature do not apply to us. There are no consequences to our mad rush to develop every corner of the planet. GDP is the best indicator of a healthy society. Money can be eaten, drank and breathed. Of course these are not truths. However, every election some voters will put on their blinders and enter the House of Convenient Lies rather than deal with the inconvenient truths. We can continue the fantasy of ignoring facts or deal with reality.
Listen to the politicians promise us that they are the ones who will deliver the most benefits right now. No thought for tomorrow or intergenerational justice. In our "have" province, the world's corporations want our NON renewable resources and we are selling them as fast as we can at bargain prices. A business that sells off its inventory at fire sale prices will not be viable for long, especially when the inventory cannot be replaced. A lot of money is going out of province from resource extraction. Nothing saved from what we do get - just spent on promises to get elected. Norway decided to save oil revenues in a separate fund for future needs and avert the Dutch Disease of high inflation - now worth $500 billion. Some prefer all the hype and will giddily get on the salesman's bandwagon. Others see their rents double and chance of home ownership evaporate.
We should be getting a fair return on resources, develop them in a slower more responsible way, place some revenue in a savings fund that politicians cannot tap for election promises and use some for the much needed transition to a truly sustainable society where community input and participation is the norm. Not much wisdom is coming from either major party, only short term election cycle thinking. Please think about this and demand more from our politicians.
Mike Bray, Indian Head, SK.
