Comment 6576

By Locke (registered) | Posted May 04, 2007 at 14:18:19

Yes, the efforts of the previous Liberal government were modest and a failure. However, the efforts of the Conservative government are not even modest. They're simply fraudulent. But we can't just blame this or the previous government.

Politicians want votes and the central problem is that voters, while concerned about the environment, are not yet convinced of the sacrifices needed to help the planet. (Never mind that the sacrifices we'll have to make later because we ignored this problem too long will be far harder to swallow.)

The message was, "The rich world's policy on greenhouse gas now seems clear: millions will die." Governments may be to blame here for failing to provide leadership, but we, the inhabitants of the rich west are the one's risking millions of other lives through our daily actions.

Personally, our household took advantage of the previous governments 'Energuide for Homes' program to update and retrofit our home. It has made some difference, saved some energy and reduced our ongoing costs. However, I can tell you we're no where close to reducing our carbon footprint by the 80% to 90%. Not by half. Clearly, we'll need to do a lot more.

Individually, we need to understand our ethical obligation to people on the other side of the planet. Each of us needs to take individual responsibility to reduce our environmental impact. Individual efforts will show our governments they can win our votes with stronger policies. We need to lead our governments on this issue.

Ignoring the problem when we understand the consequences is to accept that millions will die so we can keep our lifestyle a little longer. Future generations will not take kindly to us.

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