200 blog posts into our 3rd year of incorporation and we’re still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sure we’ve got bonnie Prince Charles, Pope Francis teamed-up with secularist Naomi Klein, the ‘leader of the free world’ Obama and even China pulling up its socks. Heavy-weight economists like Sir Nicholas Stern saying “The evidence on the seriousness of the risks from inaction or delayed action is now overwhelming.” We’re living in dire, yet exciting times with all the change happening.
If that’s not enough, the dashing Robert Redford’s covering our back while both Shell and BP are pushing for a carbon tax. Not to be outdone, the Dutch have successfully sued their government for greater action on Climate Change. Meanwhile Canadians keep trundling along like there’s no big hurry; a symptom of a resource rich country with nothing to lose. Enter stage left, the Saudi’s flick a switch cutting oil prices in half, and who would have predicted Alberta voting in a majority NDP government?
As I write this, California’s nearly out of water, Texas was flooded, Alaska’s burning, heat waves killed thousands in India and Pakistan, now Europe is baking in the sun. What will it take to spur action?
Before he passed away, Jim Flaherty naively admonished corporations for not re-investing profits into infrastructure, but asking industry to do more voluntarily is like pushing on a string. Industry unfortunately has to be goaded through regulation and Canada has a lot of catch up to do regarding energy conservation in the building sector. Here’s hoping we’re close to the tipping point!