BC’s “Climate Leadership Plan”, by any assessment that takes the devastation and upheavals of climate change seriously, is a fraud. It makes a mockery of B.C.’s supposed leading role in shifting away from a carbon economy.
It rightly deserves the scorn that has been heaped on it: “Olympian heights of political cynicism” (Simon Fraser University professor Mark Jaccard); “full of holes” (Merran Smith, executive director of Clean Energy Canada); “pathetic and cowardly” (Tzeporah Berman, member of the premier’s Climate Leadership Team).
Observers well seasoned in cynicism are convinced the premier had the whole issue predetermined from the start: she knows she can’t have her LNG dreams and meet climate change goals at the same time. So she never intended to adopt the earnest findings of her Climate Leadership Team. She’s going for the “economy and job protection” bumper sticker, counting on nailing the NDP and the Greens for wanting to “raise [carbon] taxes” while she’s protecting jobs.
True climate leadership would indeed skew the economy away from jobs spun out of the northeast oil and gas sector and from every industry heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inflicts short-term adjustment pain in some regions and industries while the biggest payback is years away, diffuse and largely dependent on other countries and policies far from B.C. voters’ control. There are no ribbons to cut when sea levels rise less quickly.
In summary: Premier Clark putting her electoral self-interest ahead of the health and safety of upcoming generations.
But what about us?
Did I mention I’ll be flying off to Italy in October, and to a board meeting of a sustainability non-profit I chair in Ottawa in September?
There’s hardly anyone I know who won’t be making at least one plane trip this year. All it takes is one plane trip to knock your personal carbon footprint into a new orbit. Recycle, drive your Tesla and do the two-sided printing thing, but it all adds up to little if you’re still flying. Flying has a greater climate impact per passenger kilometre, even over longer distances, than any other mode of transportation. And because of flight altitudes, the climate impact of an aircraft is two to four times greater than the effect of its carbon dioxide emissions alone.
We fly because we insist on putting our personal enjoyment – in business it’s more like “needs” – ahead of the greater good. Example: YVR is looking for input on its future growth at public meetings starting this week: “Passenger traffic is set to increase to 25 million by 2025. … This is exciting because passenger growth results in job growth,” writes Vancouver Airport Authority CEO Craig Richmond in the Vancouver Sun.
Not once does he mention climate change in his pitch for public input, just as the City of Vancouver doesn’t include plane travel in its Greenest City calculations.
We all know our flight to Phoenix is a speck in the 10 billion-plus tonnes of carbon emissions pumped out every year. So we look at our personal costs and benefits and studiously ignore climate change, justifying flying as “necessary” – to visit an ailing mother; to meet fellow board members face to face; to get to a beach to recover from months of stress. Why should I suffer while others ignore climate change and get rewarded? This is exactly the same hypocrisy as the premier’s.
“Environmentalists also live in the world we’re trying to change,” laments Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org. “We take airplanes and rent buses for rallies … Changing the system, not perfecting our own lives, is the point. ‘Hypocrisy’ is the price of admission in this battle.”
So let’s at least stare that down. We could pledge to reduce our air travel by 10% a year, or buy quality carbon offsets (please, not tree planting with its dubious 80-year payback).
Climate change deniers don’t all look alike. Many are decent, ordinary airline passengers lighting up an in-flight movie, angry at the premier for her irresponsibility.
Peter Ladner ([email protected]) is a co-founder of Business in Vancouver. He is a former Vancouver city councillor and former fellow at the SFU Centre for Dialogue. He is the author of The Urban Food Revolution
