It's Nice Having Neighbors Who Care...
Submitted by larryf13 on Tue, 04/28/2015 - 12:33pm
Having a next door neighbor that enjoys similar hobbies or sporting events is really a nice thing. It's enjoyable to finish mowing the lawn on Saturday afternoon and then chilling out with your neighbor over a beer and discussing super bowl potentials. Somehow it just makes life more fun. But...
what if we are not talking about hobbies but something much bigger...like climate change. If we don’t get climate change under control, our children and grandchildren will inherit a planet that is hostile to the pleasant way of life we know now.. such as chilling out with your neighbor.
Fortunately, our Canadian neighbors are just as concerned about climate change as we are and they are not shy of letting their provincial premiers know how they feel. Recently, in one of Canada’s largest demonstrations, more than 25,000 concerned protesters rallied in Quebec, with concurrent marches in Alberta, Ontario and BC. They had a strong message they wanted delivered to premiers. YES to strong action on climate change, NO to expanding Canada’s tar sand and pipelines and finally, YES to renewable energy.
Citizens are so concerned about the environment they are demanding a meaningful Canadian energy strategy which severely limits greenhouse gas emissions and penalties for being non-compliant. Additionally, while most of the focus on tar sand expansion has been on the Keystone pipeline in the US, Canadians are rising up against the two major pipelines planned in their own country. In October, 2000 people marched in Cacouna, one of the ports for Energy East: A third more oil than Keystone - 1.1 million barrels a day would arrive each day from Alberta, carried in an under-used natural gas pipeline.
Besides the climate-related dangers of expanding tar sands extraction and the inevitable leaks and ruptures of the pipeline, the port is in Beluga whale calving grounds. "It's possibly the worst place we could have chosen to build an oil port in the St-Lawrence River because of the presence of the belugas and its especially rich biodiversity," ecologist Robert Michaud told Montreal Gazette.
Almost all of Canada will soon put a price on Carbon. The decision hasn't been made whether to have a carbon tax or cap-and-trade program, but it will be part of a comprehensive plan to reduce the province's emissions 80% by 2050. Ontario recently announced it will price carbon, joining Quebec and British Columbia. They have decided to go with cap-and-trade, and will link their system with the Western Climate Initiative, which consists of California and Quebec. That would create a carbon market that covers 61 million people and 60% of Canada's population.
College activists, led by the 350.org nonprofit organization, concerned about the future of our climate, are having an impact in boardrooms from large oil companies here in the US. The fossil free divestment movement has been gaining strength at an unprecedented rate and continues to grow. Even the Prince of Wales is shunning fossil fuel. The Financial Times states that Prince Charles does not usually publicly comment on his finances, however sources from the Buckingham Palace confirmed that "his private investments and his charitable foundation do not have any fossil fuel holdings". If the Prince can do it, then so can everyone who hold positions of power!
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GENI is a co-founder of the Global Climate 100 Index (GC100). The GC100 includes 100 equally weighted companies that operate in three key areas, clean technology, renewable energy and future fuels. We believe this index will provide above average long term returns while being socially responsible with the constituents it includes.
Disclosure Note: GENI receives remuneration from this (GC100) index.
Larry Fontaine