The future of climate change

At the G8 meeting in Italy, member countries reached an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions enough to prevent a global temperature increase of more than 2 degrees. A rise in temperature above this level is considered by many climate change scientists to be the “tipping point” above which drastic environmental changes will occur.

To prevent this, it was agreed that the 32 most industrialized countries in the world must slash their emissions by 80 per cent by the year 2050. However, targets have yet to be agreed upon, and rifts continue to exist between industrialized countries and those with emerging economies as to the extent of reductions.

This announcement provoked a couple of thoughts for me.

If Canada succeeded in cutting its greenhouse gases by four-fifths in the next forty years, what would our society look like?

How would my daily life be different? How would yours?

The vast majority – 82 per cent as of 2005 – of our emissions come from energy use, which include the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat and transportation.

Citizens, businesses and government all contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore all have a role to play in reducing them. The actions of individual Canadians account for about 28 per cent of Canada's total emissions, while industry produces approximately half of all carbon output.

If we were to reduce emissions by 80 per cent, a widespread shift to alternative energy sources and modes of transportation would most likely occur. Most of us would see some significant changes in our daily lives, including to our homes, workplaces and methods of transportation.

In thinking about all this, it also suddenly occurred to me that most of the G8 leaders today will either be very elderly or will have passed away by the time the year 2050 comes around. Young people today, on the other hand – myself included – will be living with the consequences of the decisions that are made now about climate change. And we will be watching our own children deal with these consequences as well, which may be manageable or disastrous depending upon how much is done now.

Strong and decisive action against climate change needs to reach deeply into our mainstream culture. It must also go far beyond the partisan politics that characterize our federal political processes, which often limit the extent to which deep and long-term visioning of a sustainable society can occur.

The longer we wait to take action, the more drastic it will have to be in order to stave off environmental changes that have the very real potential to be catastrophic.

The sooner we start making real change, the better.