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Dear Sust-Mar people, I'm so glad Heather sent out the notice about these climate change workshops. I know that sometimes climate change feels like such a big problem that we hardly know where to begin to correct it. But when you look closely at the problem, almost any environmental concern we have will fit in with the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Just one example: we know our forests are suffering from over-cutting and being replaced with plantations of CLONED trees, thereby seriously threatening diversity. (And plantations generally require applications of herbicide to be able to compete with "weed" species.) This type of forestry also cuts down on the number of jobs available to us (and on the quality of the jobs as well.) And, of course, it produces more greenhouse gases than horse-logging or other less damaging types of forestry. I really encourage people to attend these workshops if they can. The issue of climate change may seem dauntingly difficult to take on, until we realize that much of what needs to be emphasized is just common sense. The Nova Scotia Environmental Network has a Climate Change Caucus. It is preparing some guidelines for people who want to attend the workshops. Contact the coordinator of the caucus, Wayne Groszko <groszko@atm.dal.ca>, to add your name to the Climate Change Caucus e-mail list. And contact me (Jan Slakov <jslakov@tartannet.ns.ca>) if you would like me to forward some more information about how we can prepare for these Climate Change Workshops. The Climate Change Caucus has already discussed some points which any of us could usefully make at the workshops. For instance: 1 - We need the province to keep an open mind on a large variety of measures, try them and see how effective they are before deciding on what measures to use in the long term. For example, we should not discard carbon taxes, or regulations until we have tried them, and only if they prove ineffective. 2 - We need to separate whether a measure is effective from how industry and the public will react to it, if it is effective, lets convince our citizens that it is the right thing to do. 3 - Nova Scotia will have little control over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, but it helps us make reductions if it is ratified. We should therefore push for ratification, and in the mean time commit to reductions regardless of what happens to it. We need to counter the argument that we cannot ratify unless the US does. the reality is that unless the US and Russia both ratify, the Kyoto Protocol will likely never come into force, regardless of whether Canada ratifies, therefore Canada can safely ratify now, and should do so to push for ratification elsewhere. 4. We should identify "no regrets actions" now, and should use the GPI, not the GDP as a measure of what are no regrets actions. all the best, Jan -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- The preceding message was posted on Sustainable Maritimes (sust-mar) -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- DOES SUST-MAR KNOW? Not unless you tell us ... To submit a message about the environment/sustainability in the Maritimes, just send it to <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca> Messages are prioritised and queued, so please be patient if your message doesn't appear right away.
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