Climate Change Workshops

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 11:23:30 -0400
To: sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca
From: jslakov@TartanNET.ns.ca (Jan Slakov)
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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



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