Dear Editor:
Kudos to the Town of Erin council for initiating green development standards to make its new housing subdivisions more sustainable and resilient to climate change.
It will soon be confirmed that 2023 was by far the warmest year on Earth since modern records have been kept, resulting in increased storms, floods, wildfires, heat waves and droughts. In 2022, the estimated cost to our planet from climate change impacts is estimated at $280 billion, according to a September 2023 study published in Nature Communications.
The 2023 Production Gap Report, conducted by five leading research organizations worldwide, indicates that by 2030, a mere six years away, the world will be producing twice as much fossil fuel as would be consistent with staying under the Paris Agreement’s 1.5ºC degree warming target. When this happens, Canada’s most climate-impacted year in history, 2023, will become the baseline for what is to come.
The science is clear: fossil fuel-induced climate change can no longer be denied; we are now living it. Yet all levels of government are failing to act with the urgency and commitment required to save us from the worst impacts of global heating. One example would be Wellington County’s insufficient target of a six percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
This dire situation presents an opportunity for small communities like Erin to act with insight and courage and ban fossil gas in favour of heat pumps in all new subdivisions.
Although regulations and mandates are not looked upon favourably by many, we only need to look back a few years to recognize the benefits. Seatbelts save approximately 1,000 lives a year in Canada, and yet they were not widely adopted until mandated by law. The same applies to infant car seats; perception and acceptance were changed by mandates, to the benefit of all.
In a new subdivision home, the difference in cost to the homeowner between installing a gas furnace and air conditioner or installing an emissions-free heat pump, which also acts as an air conditioner, is less than upgrading their countertops. However the cost savings to both homeowner and planet continue for years.
We must act from the bottom up to make sure we are all doing our part. I hope the Town of Erin has the courage to act like it matters.
Sue Braiden,
Erin