It is now so clear how high the stakes are if we don’t tackle the global warming challenge – rising sea levels, strains on food supplies, spread of disease, significant threat to many species.

It is equally clear that we need global cooperation and leadership to set ourselves on a course that allows us all to live fulfilling lives while cutting our greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution by 80+%. This global cooperation must occur with earnest at the highest level and complete conviction to solve global warming at the 2009 United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen.

The Copenhagen conference is the meeting at which the citizens of the world must set science-based targets to prevent catastrophic climate change, starting with targets for 2020. The hardest part of the negotiation will be the allocation of responsibility amongst countries.

Will Canada step up to be a leader or not?

I believe we need Canada to be a leader in Copenhagen. Canada cannot be a bully in Copenhagen demanding compromises, we need to step up and show we are prepared to take real action to substantially reduce GHG pollution between now and 2020.

By demonstrating that Canada is prepared to take real and swift action to reduce emissions we can be a positive force in the international negotiations and help ensure the largest polluters take on a fair share of the responsibility. If we do not show real progress we will be relegated and remembered as a negative influence.

So what will it take for Canada to be a positive force?

Simple, real and swift policy action at home. To date we have only seen a patchwork of policies, weak regulations and no coherent strategy and plan to significantly reduce GHG pollution.

In our report, Tomorrow Today – How Canada Can Make a World of Difference (www.tomorrowtodaycanada.ca) we identified a number of key priorities for action:
1) By 2009, set a price on GHG emissions starting with a price no lower than $30/tonne and increasing to at least $50/tonne by 2015. This price should be applied broadly in the Canadian economy. These pollution levies should be used towards investments in further actions to reduce GHG pollution, and also used to offset any related cost increases for low-income Canadians;
2) Adopt an Energy Efficiency Plan to implement a coordinated package of regulations, financial incentives, and capacity building measures for each major energy-using sector;
3) Adopt a Renewable Energy Action Plan that provides the right incentives to allow Canada to grow and diversify its economy through our incredible abundance of low impact renewable energy resources.

There is simply no reason why we aren’t putting a price on pollution – if you make a mess you need to pay to clean it up. There is also no longer an excuse for us to waste energy. There is no reason we should miss out on the rapidly growing renewable energy industry – let’s start developing and manufacturing these technologies here at home.

In short, Copenhagen is possibly the most important meeting of the world’s governments, ever; Canada needs to show up at Copenhagen as a positive force for change; to be a credible positive force we must take swift and deep policy action at home.

Not only can we do it, we must do it.

Sincerely,

Marlo Raynolds
Executive Director, Pembina Institute
Marlor[at]pembina.org

Hi again blog world. Today was a great day! 7,600 square kilometres of wilderness were granted interim protection. The Naats-ihch’oh National Park Reserve (the headwaters of Nahanni National Park) was announced today by Minister Baird at a celebration in Ottawa. This means that the habitat for caribou, grizzly bears and peregrine falcons is now protected in this majestic part of Canada. And another national park is added to the system and gets us one step closer to completing a representative system of national parks in Canada!

While I know that we must tackle the climate issue, we cannot forget that nature has other parts that are suffering. Biodiversity, the diversity of life on this planet needs protection and one of the best ways to do that is to establish protected areas, especially in Canada where we still have the opportunity to do so. I believe we also have the responsibility to do so as well.

Julie Gelfand

President, Nature Canada