Dear Editor:
This summer’s forest fires have brought the reality of climate change to the forefront of British Columbian’s concerns.
You now have the opportunity to influence our province’s future policies on addressing climate change and reducing our collective greenhouse gas emissions.
Last month the B.C. government presented their Climate Leadership Plan — Discussion Paper, and the public input period ends Aug. 17. We encourage everyone to complete the online survey (engage.gov.bc/climateleadership).
While we applaud the leadership team for requesting the public’s input, our local Citizens’ Climate Lobby chapter is concerned that the proposed goals are too vague.
Another concern is that B.C.’s successful carbon tax, instituted in 2008, has been frozen for a five year period. In order to continue to be effective at reducing GHG emissions, this tax needs to increase as it was intended.
The government’s current focus on developing a new carbon-based energy infrastructure is contrary to the long term goals of meeting B.C.’s GHG targets. At this time, the province will be hard pressed to meet its 2020 GHG emission reduction targets.
We will be submitting a formal response with our concerns. We encourage other organizations to do so, too.
At this critical time, we must all be actively involved in envisioning the future that we want.
Ron Robinson, Mike Geisler,
Laura Sacks
Nelson-West Kootenay Chapter
Citizens’ Climate Lobby
citizensclimatelobby.ca