Today’s the day that the Kyoto Protocol comes into effect. If Canada fails to meet its targets in reducing greenhouse gases then it faces punishment (e.g., it will be unable to sell emissions credits). Of course, according to the article, Canada has already pushed back its industrial targets.
It has just been announced that Montreal will host the conference that is a follow-up to Kyoto in December. At this conference, some 10,000 attendees will hammer out the protocol that will supercede Kyoto when it expires in 2012. Maybe Canada actually have a concrete policy by then. And being in our city, maybe we can have an impact too. What do you think we should do?
It occurs to me that energy efficiency has a environmental cost. Let’s say that that everyone upgrades to more energy efficient appliances. Where will all those inefficient appliances end up? In landfills? That’s hardly environmentally friendly. OR they might go, second-hand, into other people’s homes. That continues the inefficiency. This retrofitting has to accommodate the costs resulting from disposal.
Here is a
related item about some US scientists who claim they now have unequivocal proof that the planet is warming as a result of increased greenhouse gasses. Will Bush listen?