We must limit our own footprint
David Slade and I share many an idealistic position on global climate change, but hoping to vote the right people into political positions based on their leanings on science and evidence is iffy at best. Political life at any level is more a matter of back scratching amongst their peers than standing out from the crowd with tough choices hoping their political colleagues will back them. For me that is just too much of a gamble to put all my faith in any political office.
The tough choices that our government leaders are going to have to make to have any noticeable affect on climate change will be largely unpopular with most electorate. The real change must take place at the individual level because it is the poor choices many people make on a daily basis that is driving climate change, and these choices are beyond the scope of government as it would be seen as Big Brother meddling in our lives.
Yes government will often make broad changes regarding transportation, water conservation etc. which will help but will not result in the massive changes required to slow down climate change, never mind stop the rate of acceleration of that change. As individuals we must reduce our individual carbon footprint. To do this we need to forego the annual winter holiday to far off destinations, get rid of gas guzzling vehicles, making fewer trips into town to run errands, forego camping trips every long weekend just because we have invested thousands of dollars into camping vehicles, stop partaking in ego boosting activities just because we can afford them, only names a few things that can be changed, but are we ready to make those sacrifices?
I look around and I see few people who share my sense of doom that climate change is already visiting upon us now and that appears to be getting increasingly more dire. I would challenge any politician to enact laws that would limit our personal recreational activities for the good of the planet, but I won’t hold my breath.
Mike Wilkinson
Duncan