This is a Listen Up! guest post by Hugh Holland. Hugh Mackenzie is taking a break from Listen Up! this week.
By Hugh Holland
Three weeks ago, our relatives in Houston, Texas, narrowly escaped flooding caused by torrential rains as Las Vegas was having 120° F temperatures. Two weeks ago, Toronto experienced its third “100-year” climate event in 10 years. Last week, the beautiful Jasper National Park and the town of Jasper were destroyed by wildfire, and ironically, the Premier of Canada’s most prosperous province, whose source of wealth is arguably a main cause of the fire, who has done nothing but bad-mouth Ottawa, is now begging for financial help to rebuild this iconic area.
This week, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina are being ravaged again for the umpteenth time by a hurricane and severe flooding. If you lost most of your lifetime assets in any of these events, most would say the environment is the most important. If you were untouched, these events are becoming so common that most of us just yawn and carry on. This is not happening in some country on the other side of the world, although they are seeing similar things. It’s happening right in our own backyard. A recent report said the US is heading for uninsurable climate destruction losses of $1.2 trillion annually. This is not going to end well.
By now, it’s becoming clear that we have already passed the point of being able to avoid climate change with all its ramifications, so all we can do now is try to mitigate and adapt. Is that still worth doing, or should we just give up and forget about future generations? What can we do?
It used to be that people were willing to sacrifice a bit when needed to help the general good. Enter Donald Trump with his selfish, divisive rhetoric and his clever use of the Internet and social media to spread misinformation. Now, people expect the government to solve all problems but complain and protest whenever they try.
Better long-range planning is required to achieve any sustainable balance between the economy and the environment. But to get our votes, our politicians and the media are obsessed with short-term news, such as this week’s price of gas or last week’s estimate of inflation. We have only ourselves to blame for that. Most politicians try to satisfy the voting public’s demands, but some try to mislead us by telling us what they say our demands should be. Our illustrious leader of the Opposition talks only about taxes and has said nothing of consequence about the environment. He tries to convince us to “axe the carbon tax” even though that is the best tool to get the public’s attention on how we can all help to minimize climate change and make economic progress. That minor temporary sacrifice is refunded in 3 months, and the lowest income people don’t pay much, if any, carbon tax since they don’t buy much oil or gas.
Right here in Huntsville, developers are replacing nature and trees with pavement, creating potential run-off and flooding problems, all in the name of economic progress. To their credit, the new Lake Tree Residence on Highway 60 planted some small trees that will be a nice asset in a few years. Are the developers of Forbes Hill or the new plaza on Hanes Road going to plant a single tree or shrub to re-naturalise those areas?
But there is some good news. The District of Muskoka is considering an energy-from-waste facility to replace the current landfill instead of stripping another 100 acres and filling it with garbage. Energy-from-waste has been successfully practiced in Europe for decades and, more recently, in the regions of Durham and York. My daughter’s friend is an environmental consultant who worked with District Chair Jeff Lehman when he was mayor of Barrie and says Jeff is a very progressive thinker. We are lucky to have him.
And last night, we watched Kamala Harris introduce her new running mate, Tim Walz. What a refreshing and hopeful change in US politics that will have a positive effect on the entire world, including Canada. Which Canadian leaders will be best suited to work with them on big-picture planning that balances the economy and the environment?
Hugh Holland is a retired engineering and manufacturing executive now living in Huntsville, Ontario.
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Mr. Holland, another excellent article to read, thank you.
Mr. Clarke, “Eve of Destruction”, though old, is very appropriate for our current situation with climate change and concern that the political will of ALL political parties to be part of the solution.
Mr. Cockram, yes, it is not an “either or” situation, but climate change policy must be of greater priority.
Just a reminder, the insurance companies certainly recognize climate change and its results (increased coverage rates) – so, why can’t the Federal and Provincial Conservatives (Ontario, Alberta) recognize and prioritize the same?
What are you talking about Nathan?
Your incoherent sentence seems to have no relevance to the subject matter.
Could you clarify?
I’m so bored of this Liberal cheerleader (and some of his hangers on in the comment section, some of whom can’t even be bothered to write coherent sentences).
It’s easy to lecture on a pension with no family to feed.
Also, it’s not a simple ‘either or’ proposition. Better policy can augment both. We get worse policy under Trudeau the narcissist in chief.
Quote: Thomas R Spivak. We are going to be required to use clear garbage bags to monitor our waste but industry, developers, construction dump unfathomable amounts of waste in the landfill with little or no monitoring. More honest words have never been spoken! Many, many years ago, this is why they had to close the land fill behind the fairgrounds, all with the blessing of the town.
All good but recognize we have elected a Provincial party that denies climate change, and a federal MP whose party does likewise. In the latter case the party and irs leader are in thrall to big energy suppliers.
Walk through any parking lot in Huntsville and you see that many do not give a nickel for Carbon Tax but still complain about it.
If that don’t bother you then consider experiments to shoot sulphur into the atmosphere to reduce sunlight…. We in Canada could offer strong leadership and shame the US China and India to stop destroying our planet, but only if we uphold our Paris commitments.
Many of you won’t remember Barry McGuire and the Eve of Destruction. He wasn’t talking climate but we are getting there anyway.
( Some are too young and some won’t remember)
“Explosive Growth – How Green Energy Fuels the Economic Boom”
“renewable energies made up ten percent of growth in global Gross Domestic Product – equivalent to 320 billion dollars.”
“Indeed, the growth rates for renewable energies last year were impressive: 80 percent of newly built electricity capacities worldwide were attributable to wind, solar, water, and biomass.”
“since 2021, more workers have been employed in the “clean” energy sector than in the fossil sector”
Except in Ontario.
Ontario used to be 96% non-fossil fuel power for decades.
Something to be proud of.
We only needed a small amount of green energy and storage to get to 100%.
Green energy and storage is the least expensive source of new energy around the world.
We were well on the way with 750 green energy projects already under construction.
Until Doug Ford nuked it all and wasted 100s of millions of taxpayer dollars doing it.
Along with cancelling all the money and energy conservation rebates funded from Cap and Trade.
Energy conservation has the same effect as new generation for pennies on the dollar.
Pennies.
Demand was going down for 12 years 2005-2017, in spite of the population going up, due to energy conservation programs.
Now, since Doug Ford’s meddling, demand is going up again to be met with billions in dirty nat gas plants instead.
Ontario is now down to 90% non-fossil fuel and dropping.
Ontario is getting less green unlike the rest of the world.
Something to be embarrassed about.
Among Ford’s many other embarrassing mistakes, scandals and flip flops.
Search “This community just threw a wrench into Doug Ford’s plans for new gas plants”
Cities are using legislation Ford created to stop his dirty, unneeded, extremely expensive gas plants.
That’s funny.
“Multiple studies have shown that the province can meet its power needs without building new gas plants, and that solar and wind power, as well as programs that reduce electricity demand through incentives and efficiency, are much cheaper in the long run.”
A refreshing point of view High, 30 years ago I attended a forum that discussed co-generation in Huntsville and 1 business in particular was evaluated as being able to supply enough energy to light Huntsville but they poo pooed the idea.
We are going to be required to use clear garbage bags to monitor our waste but industry,developers,construction dump unfathomable amounts of waste in the landfill with little or no monitoring.
Turn it to energy!
A state of the art facility could make money here and create meaningful jobs.
Good article Hugh. As I drive from downtown Huntsville, 10 minutes south on the back roads, I watch the outside temperature drop 3 degrees. Why? All the beautiful trees. It’s simple. We must keep our trees. Take down one, replant one. When I lived in Innisfil, Jeff Lehman was the Barrie mayor. He aggressively snatched a large forest area reluctantly from Innisfil for development. They clear cut the forest and built shoulder to shoulder ugly monster homes. I’m not sure we are lucky to have him.
Here’s to a good future for Canada!
So long as Canada ignores PC lies and continues to replace fossil fuels with much cheaper renewable energy and battery projects like the rest of the world.
For a list of 26 articles that debunk fanatical PC lies regarding the carbon tax and energy go to:
https://doppleronline.ca/huntsville/to-a-good-future/
If you think the carbon tax is expensive try climate change, as Hugh points out.
The carbon tax is rebated. The cost of climate change is not.
Doing nothing about climate change, as in the Con plan, is extremely expensive and responsible for a big part of inflation.
Search “From chocolate to home insurance, climate change is making life more expensive.”
Search “Explosive Growth – How Green Energy Fuels the Economic Boom”
“since 2021, more workers have been employed in the “clean” energy sector than in the fossil sector”
“It states that renewable energies made up ten percent of growth in global Gross Domestic Product – equivalent to 320 billion dollars.”