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Islands
Sustainability Initiative
The
Gulf Islands - Canada's first Cool Community?
First,
Some Background on Global Warming:
Note
to reader: If you get depressed easily, skip this part and go
straight to the "Cool Communities"section below.
The
Earth's oceans and forests can absorb about 4 Billion tons of CO2
emissions every year by using the sun's energy to turn CO2 in the air
into plant matter ( using photo-synthesis). Unfortunately, humans now
produce about 8.5 Billion tons of CO2 each year by burning fossil
fuels. This surplus has gradually increased atmospheric CO2 from 280
PPM ( parts per million)140 years ago to about 380 PPM now (the
highest level in 20 million years. As a result, the Earth's average
temperature has risen by about 0.5 degrees Celsius as of 2005. Far
greater increases are in store during the next century as the oceans
continue to heat up.
Unless we switch to energy conservation
and solar/wind/wave/tidal energy now, we will increase our
atmosphere's CO2 level to about 600 PPM over the next 100 years. This
increase may well render our planet uninhabitable for our
grandchildren.
Global warming is the single largest problem
ever to face humanity. Its consequences are hard to imagine. For
long-term suffering, the effects of rapid climate change surpass
those of war, (which kills approximately two-hundredths of 1% of
humanity each year), plagues and famine, (which kill about a tenth of
1% of humanity every ten years), and illness-causing pollution.
According to the predictions of scientists, unchecked global
warming will result in flooding of coastal cities (where 80% of
people live), loss of farmland, creation of deserts, species
extinction,
as well as the rapid spread of famine and disease. The current
situation in Africa, particularly in the Sudan and Ethiopa, serves as
a stark foretaste of the suffering to come: a protracted drought
whose root cause is a 2 degree C warming of the Indian Ocean (which
has altered the monsoon path) has ravaged crops and led to famine and
war over ever-dwindling resources.
Global Warming is
happening quietly and relentlessly, and its effects are only slowly
becoming apparent over a long period of time. Consequently, many of
us are still not fully aware of the threat facing everything we
value.
The “inconvenient truth" of Global Warming, as
Al Gore called it, leaves most of us shaking our heads. Like grief,
our first reaction is denial ( Steven Harper), then
we switch
to argument (watch Steven Harper over the next
year), and
finally we move on to negotiation (Kyoto), acceptance,
and finally action.
However, the sad truth is that if
we wait for our existing political elite to do something, we will
wait until it is far too late. Politicians seem to wait to act until
a clear consensus has already formed, and they don't get elected by
spreading bad news and proposing difficult solutions.
In the
US, many states, communities and businesses are tackling Global
Warming on their own. It's time for us in the Gulf Islands to do
something. Lets become one of Canada's fist ”Cool
Communities".
Cool Communities:
Cool
communities are communities with no “net" CO2 emissions. They
are "cool” because they do not contribute to global warming.
The CO2 emissions that they can't eliminate through conservation,
Cool communities "offset" through planting trees, restoring
forests, creating high-carbon topsoil, by installing energy-saving
devices and by constructing wind and solar energy generators.
The
Cool Community program is a grass-roots movement sponsored by a
charitable group (such as our M.I. Conservancy Association), already
started in Europe.
Here's how it works:
1)The sponsor
creates a Cool Community Task Force staffed by volunteers. Paid staff
may be brought on board as the program matures.
2)
Participants volunteer to lower their CO2 emissions
as much as
possible, (say from 15 tons to 6 tons per year) . This means
switching to high efficiency lighting and appliances, driving less,
driving a hybrid or electric car, avoiding packaging, buying local
organic food, buying renewable energy, living in green buildings,
etc....
3) Participants then buy "carbon offsets'
for about $15 per ton to offset those emissions which they can't
eliminate. (Six tons of carbon offsets would cost $90/ year in the
form of a charitable donation to the conservancy). Usually
participants start by doing a little conserving and a lot of
offsetting, and as time goes by they conserve more and more.
4)
The Cool Community sponsor then uses the carbon offset funds to pay
for local projects to sequestrate the excess carbon emissions. These
projects include
- Tree planting in parks and road right-of-ways
(each tree absorbs about roughly 2 tons of CO2 as it grows, and our
community gets more beautiful as well as sustainable!).
-
Bio-intensive and low-till farming which absorbs large amounts of CO2
into specially cultivated top-soil. Our community eats better as well
as becomes more sustainable!
- Local low-energy building retrofits
which reduce energy consumption (the costs are split 70%/30% between
the building owner and Cool Community program) ﾖ our
community saves money and creates local, sustainable jobs.
-
Construction of wind or tidal power and Solar Panel Arrays to
introduce green energy into our community's power supply we develop
more jobs and skills in the industries of the future.
- Subsidies
for purchase of bio-fuel and electric vehicles for Island use - we
promote green car makers.
- An Island ride-sharing program to
reduce driving trips into town; perhaps a public transit system.
-
An Island electric taxi to allow people to leave their car at home
when they go to town or to the shops (or better yet, sell your car
and use the electric taxi!).
- Any other projects that can be
effective at reducing atmospheric carbon and garnering public
attention.
Cool Community
Benefits:
We
help avoid a climate catastrophe:
First of
all, we all do something now to put humanity back on course.
We
get credit for doing so:
Every household and business which
joins the program gets a Cool Community logo sticker to display next
to the front door , and each business which joins can display the
Cool Community logo on its letterhead.
We create stable
long-term jobs:
Local jobs are created in tree-planting,
bio-intensive farming, building retrofits, developing alternative
energy, and coordinating the ride-share and taxi program. Other jobs
may be created organizing the Cool Community program and educating
people. These jobs are all high skill permanent careers which can
attract young people to the island who become valued parts of the
community.
We beautify the islands:
Planting trees
all round the island, preserving forests, and developing
bio-intensive agriculture will make the islands more beautiful.
We
promote tourism and quality of life:
Folks will want to come
and see our beautiful and intriguing ﾓCool
Islandsﾔ.
This interest will help local tourist operators, creating yet more
local employment.
If we could persuade even 1/3 of our
island's residents to participate in the program, Mayne Island could
reduce its net carbon emissions by 140,000 tons per year. In short,
the future will be sustainable rather than terrifying!
Richard Iredale,
June 2006
Islands
Sustainability Initiative
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Richard
Iredale, Peter Judd and Michael Dunn formed
the Islands
Sustainability Initiative (ISUNI ) on Mayne Island
to provide
information for the stimulation of public discussion and innovation
concerning our collective future.
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