The largest-ever gathering of world leaders is taking place with the aim of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Leaving aside the cynical question of how much greenhouse gas was emitted in getting 151 heads of state and their entourages to Paris, how much will the climate summit achieve?
More important, what can individuals achieve?
Plans will be made and targets will be set in Paris. Despite wishes that those objectives will be legally binding, no system will measure performance, and no penalties will be levied if performance falls short of goals.
Judging by experience, performance will fall short. Premier Christy Clark is at the Paris conference, in part to tout B.C.鈥檚 success in reducing emissions through the carbon tax while not impeding the province鈥檚 economy. The province set a 33 per cent reduction in emissions from 2007 levels by 2020, but even though that target was legislated, it will likely not be met.
One reason is that Clark has frozen further increases in the carbon tax, which halts its momentum. She also continues to push for huge liquefied natural gas projects that critics say will negate further cuts in carbon emissions.
But falling short of a goal is better than not setting one. Talk is not necessarily action, but without the talk, no action will occur. Progress might be slow, but it鈥檚 significant progress when so many world leaders can come together and find common ground on at least some of the urgent issues.
While that raises the question of what, if anything, governments will do to effect change, we would do better to ask ourselves what we can do individually. Things are likely to move slowly on the world stage; the pace can be much faster at home. While world leaders talk, we can act.
We can consider what we can do to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. For most of us, better planning and combining trips could reduce our driving by five or 10 per cent without creating hardship.
Look at all those people stuck in the Colwood Crawl 鈥� they fume at the slow progress of traffic while their idling cars spew fumes into the atmosphere. They鈥檙e all trying to get to work at the same time, and will face the same frustration as they drive home from work.
But if work hours were staggered, traffic would flow more smoothly, producing less pollution. Many take advantage of carpooling, public transit and cycling to reduce their carbon footprint; many more could do so.
Climate change is a complex problem that demands many solutions, some of them seemingly small. Take bottled water, for example. The manufacture of every tonne of plastic used for the bottles produces three tonnes of carbon dioxide. Energy is consumed as the bottles are filled and transported; more energy is consumed when the water is cooled in refrigerators. All this for a product that is largely unnecessary. It鈥檚 a small thing to give up or cut back on bottled water.
Small steps count. There鈥檚 a sizable 91原创 contingent at the Paris conference, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has promised Canada will take action. Does that matter, given that Canada is responsible for a mere 1.6 per cent of the world鈥檚 greenhouse-gas emissions?
It does 鈥� our example, individually or as a nation, can motivate others; it can be part of increasing the momentum.
Most of us would like to see reduced greenhouse-gas emissions, but too many of us sit back and wait for the government to act. Too many believe that dealing with climate change is something someone else should do.
Regardless of what governments do, progress depends on individuals鈥� choices and actions.
