Re: Pragmatism, March 22
I would like to thank Peter Morris for his compliments regarding my previous letter, but he is missed my point.
Plastics are indeed integral to our society. But if the true cost of producing those same items were built in (i.e. accounting for their carbon footprint), would we consume the amount we do? Does he also know a lot of tanker ships run on Bunker C fuel, that is the least expensive and, by far, the dirtiest fuel for bringing all of those cheap things from afar? Their carbon footprint is enormous, yet there are no regulations in that regard for shipping.
And if airline tickets included the cost of the carbon content of the jet fuel, would we think twice about taking as many trips as we do? Again, airlines are exempt from carbon pricing.
The point of my previous letter was that we are not paying for the pollution we have created.
Most importantly, the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions are from the burning of fuels, whether that is oil, gas, coal, jet fuel etc. Yes, we need crude oil to produce many products – we just must stop refining it into fuel sources or be prepared to pay the true costs. We need to move to non fossil fuel sources to get our energy.
Pragmatism has a price and it is long past time to pay the piper!
Gord Cumming