That was nice. The last two months of the year
filled with optimism, generated mostly by a new federal government. Lots of
cooing and gushing about positive change.
And a cheery - albeit mild and snowless - Christmas
season. I can still hear the echoes of Frank Sinatra crooning “Have yourself a
merry little Christmas,” the tune that assures us that from now on our troubles
will be out of sight.
Not quite. When we woke up New Year’s Day the world’s
worries remained, looming tall and threatening. The largest is global warming, which
should be obvious considering our scary December weather.
The Paris climate change summit last month left
many people feeling more relaxed about the global warming threat. The summit of
196 countries agreed to slow the rate of global warming, although there were
few specifics on how that might be done.
We have to be hopeful that the Paris agreement
will set us on a path to saving our deteriorating
planet. The odds are against us, however.
To begin with, the world relies on coal and oil
for roughly two-thirds of its energy needs. There no longer is much doubt that continued
uncontrolled use of both has the potential to make the earth uninhabitable.
World coal consumption declined in 2015, however
many economic forecasters believe coal use will increase in coming years. Coal
is abundant and far cheaper to produce power than oil or natural gas.
In 2013, the World Resources Institute estimated
that 1,200 new coal-fired power plants were being planned throughout the world.
The majority were in China and India, countries where economic growth is
booming and demanding more power sources.
Coal is the key fuel in these two countries, and
in many developing nations, and its use is expected to increase worldwide until
at least 2020.
Also, the number of motor vehicles in the world
surpassed one billion in 2010. Their number today is estimated at 1.2 billion
and expected to double to 2.5 billion by 2050. Ninety-eight per cent of them burn
gasoline or diesel.
With 2.5 billion vehicles, average fuel
efficiency will have to double just to keep carbon emissions at today’s level.
However, scientists suggest that we will need to cut average carbon emissions
by 80 per cent to stabilize the impacts of global warming.
Coal and oil use are not the only threats to the
world environment. The greatest threat is ourselves and our production-based
lifestyle.
The Christmas season just passed is an example.
The U.S. energy department estimates that decorative seasonal lights consume
6.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year in that country. That is
more than the total annual national electrical consumption of many developing
countries.
This is one small example of the runaway
consumerism and overproduction that our society needs to rethink. We need to
talk about how we can live more simply with less.
We have made impressive advances in trying to
control our pollution. Recycling, composting, solar and wind energy, automotive
pollution controls are examples. But these are controls that slow, but not
stop, our environmental degradation.
What we need is a change in attitude. An
attitude that helps us understand that our planet does not exist only for us.
It exists for everything. Everything in the world is connected and has a
purpose, and everything deserves our respect.
I see lack of respect whenever I take a walk
along Highway 35. The shoulders and ditches are strewn with beer and pop cans,
water bottles, paper coffee cups, juice boxes, cigarettes packs and a variety
of plastic containers.
On my walks I usually find one piece of garbage
every 20 steps. All this is crap tossed from vehicle windows. It’s hard to
imagine how we will stop global warming when people still throw garbage from
carbon-emitting vehicles that are growing at an alarming rate.
Now there is talk of populating a new planet. That
I guess goes with the thinking that when you fill one garbage dump you simply
find another.
I like living here and don’t want to move. So
instead of booking a seat on the first populating mission to Mars, I’ll try lessening
my individual impacts on the world.
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