By Associate professor, University of Regina
We’ve heard it ad nauseum from our political leaders and the media: We can’t do anything about climate change because it would cost us jobs and jeopardize our future.
“We can’t afford a carbon tax.”
“The sun doesn’t shine at night.”
“Without oil, how would we pay for education or hospitals?”
“But we are a drop in the bucket compared to China.”
This is the dominant narrative in Saskatchewan, Canada’s second largest oil-producing province, with the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per capita. It all points to one conclusion: Dig in and do nothing.
Are carbon taxes too little, too late?
In early October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released an urgent warning to the global community. If, as a global community, we allow warming to exceed 1.5℃ we face widespread species extinction, a climate change refugee crisis and serious threats to our livelihoods, well-being and security.
In order to have a chance at keeping global warming below 1.5℃ we need to reduce our emissions by 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030. It is crystal clear that we need drastic and immediate action in order to rescue a habitable planet.
The federal government announced in October that it will collect a carbon tax on behalf of provinces like Saskatchewan that have refused to implement one on their own.
A household in Saskatchewan should receive a rebate amounting to about $600 per year to offset the federally imposed tax on fuels. That’s double what households in Ontario will receive.
But the truth is we need much more than a carbon tax. We need a wholescale energy transition in every jurisdiction across the globe.
‘Regime of obstruction’
The idea of a renewable energy transition is exciting. It opens up space to think about not just decarbonization (replacing fossil fuels with renewables), but also enhancing democracy and decolonization.
Alongside colleagues across Western Canada, I have been studying what we are calling a “regime of obstruction.” Organized by companies that profit from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, this regime is doing all it can to slow down or block the transition from fossil fuels so that the regime can remain profitable.
This regime of obstruction pushes the perverse notion that there is no future without extracting fossil fuels and releasing their emissions into the atmosphere.
If we are going to decarbonize our economies, we will have to challenge the corporate power of the fossil fuel industry. This will not be easy, but removing the stranglehold that the industry has on our society will allow us to introduce more justice and fairness to our economies.
We could harness our Crown corporations to create new, unionized, green jobs in renewable energy with a priority on delivering the public universal access to energy at prices that we can all afford.
We could empower local communities to produce their own energy and build new green economies on the lands they have stewarded for generations.
We could put people to work cleaning up the liabilities of the oil and gas industry that has left over one hundred thousand wells and hundreds of thousands of kilometres of pipelines across the province.
Opportunities in transition
According to the Green Economy Network — an organization made up of unions, environmental and social justice organizations — an investment of $3.62 billion could create more than 48,000 jobs in energy efficiency, conservation, renewable energy and public transit in Saskatchewan over five years.
The fear driving resistance to a new green economy is legitimate. Workers in Saskatchewan’s coal and oil and gas producing communities are right to worry about their futures when our leaders have provided no credible, local-level, detailed plans about how a transition might work. It’s time to start crunching the numbers and support local communities as they plan for vibrant futures.
Read more: Facing uncertain future, fossil fuel workers want retraining in renewables
Most importantly, a wholescale transition opens up opportunities for decolonization. The late Secwepemc leader Arthur Manuel pointed out that Indigenous communities have been reduced to 0.2 per cent of the Canadian landmass.
In order to grow Indigenous economies, Canada must repatriate lands and resources to these communities. Crown lands that have been reclaimed from oil and gas extraction would be a great place to start, and would provide a foundation for a more just future.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article
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Rob Millman says
Firstly, a minor quibble with a minute expression in an otherwise excellent article: the nit-picker in me would suggest that “1.5 degrees Celsius” be changed to “1.5 Celsius degrees”. Of course, Prof. Eaton is correct. But it is distinctly unhelpful when the leader of the free world (how sad is that?) insists that global warming is a myth, and continue to pander to his constituency in the coal-mining states. A major power shift after the mid-terms should usher in a more malleable government to the south. Also, I would prefer to see anything but wind turbines accompanying the article. Surely, they offer the longest payback period for any of the clean energy alternatives. Surely solar panels are probably far superior; and despite safety considerations, nuclear power is probably inevitable (with its limitless supply).
Bob Slater says
This whole idea depends on what side of the fence you are and what you enjoy … I have a boat, lawn tractor, a ATV, a snow blower, a car , a truck, a power ice fishing auger, a generator, a high end water pump, a leaf blower, a travel trailer .. get the picture ..all gas operated! What do you suggest I do, sell everything!? Buy a bicycle, more rakes, push mower, a bigger snow shovel, sell my boat, sell my vehicles, freeze to death when the power goes out, let everything flood, .. are you for real? Just because you may be a coach potato or an apartment dweller or a city person doesn’t mean you have the right to control what you do not like and stop EVERYONE else from doing things and stuff WE like! Sorry just because you disagree with me does not make you right!
Kathy Kay says
Big oil has long held sway over rational and scientific influence. Instead of moving forward with creative solutions, governments under people like Doug Ford reverse or destroy sustainable energy projects. The costs are instant: jobs lost, cancelled contracts cause financial hardship on multiple levels, and the environment suffers immensely. Sadly, it would seem money and power without science or compassion continue to destroy. We need strong voices like Professor Eaton’s to keep shouting from the rooftops.
Bill Beatty says
Corporate Farms produce twice as much greenhouse gas as All carbon based fuel gases….People , Change your eating habits first and then rail against the Oil industry once you have full health .
Karen Wehrstein says
I think that to shift enough political will in governments worldwide to get off their keisters and do something effective about climate change, it’s going to take some extreme weather events and some nasty realities. Like, say, a typhoon that almost hits Cat 6, off the scale… or the sea rising enough that a hurricane disappears an entire island… or a hurricane no one’s worried about because it’s just Cat 1 or 2 suddenly jumping to Cat 4 just before it hits land and flattening beachside towns… or thousands of people fleeing north from Central America to the USA in part because they can no longer make a living farming because the weather’s too crazy…
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Oh wait.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8KYTG6NZqY
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https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/remote-hawaiian-island-wiped-off-map-by-hurricane-walaka-french-frigate-shoal-destroyed-storm-surge-monk-seal/115634
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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/news-hurricane-michael-florida-explained/
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/migrant-caravan-causes-climate-change-central-america
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Thanks, Professor Eaton, for a post full of solutions, and Doppler, for posting it.
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Karen Wehrstein says
The American public is way ahead of its current government: https://www.momscleanairforce.org/americans-climate-change-poll/ . That’ll eventually translate into action by the USA; it’s just a question of whether it’s enough, fast enough. Hopefully the return to sanity will start on Tuesday.
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If nuclear is going to help, the industry has to avoid idiocies like building a plant on a shore that gets hit with tsunamis, not making ALL of its systems WORLDWIDE sufficiently fool-proof to prevent catastrophic operator error, etc. Its reputation as dangerous is deserved.
BJ Walker says
The art of politically expedient planning in an age of climate ague
In the fantastical ambition to change the Earth’s climate, Canada is not even a player.
They are not putting a price on pollution; they are putting a tax on all energy fuels. CO2 is not a pollutant — ask a plant. Ask a tree. Ask a human being during exhale. Sewage is a pollutant. It causes diseases. CO2 is a nature-produced life-giving and life-enhancing part of our planet’s atmosphere.