Earth's New Season by Guy Dauncey

"The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." Winston Churchill.

Here are 10 breakthroughs that could make a big difference in the way we treat our abused planet.

1. Cost Neutral Solar Energy. Not long ago, the global solar production was 50 MW. In 2002 it was 560 MW. By 2010, it could be 5,000 MW. As production increases, and prices fall, the income from solar gain will equal the cost of a solar loan, making it cost neutral. Then solar roofing could become a required feature on all new buildings, and on existing buildings. Greater Vancouver could generate 5,000 MW from its commercial and residential rooftops. Roll on the solar age.

2. Wind and Tidal Energy. The US has the potential to produce three times more electricity from wind on its land and offshore than it needs - and it’s much the same in other parts of the world. The ocean tides also have a large untapped potential - over 2,000 MW in BC. With all this electricity, we could abandon fossil fuels and use small, neighbourhood electric vehicles for city use, alongside bicycles and buses, with hydrogen-electric buses and trains for long-distance travel.

3. Industrial Ecological Networking. Think three Rs on a big scale, linking all the factories and buildings in a given area together to share energy and reprocess each other’s wastes. Sewage becomes compost and re-usable water. Meat industry wastes become re-usable oil. Waste heat provides energy for homes. No more landfills. No more pollution. No more waste.

4. Ecological Taxation. Right now, we don’t pay for things like the health of the ozone layer, or the beauty of the forests - economists call them "externalities." Meanwhile, governments raise money by taxing our income. If we changed the rules, and taxed waste, water, fossil fuels, pollutants and pesticides, we could reduce the harm we do and lower personal taxes. The Irish started with a 25 cent tax on plastic shopping bags, which made people rush out to buy canvas bags and reduced plastic bag use by 95 percent in a year, raising $15 million for recycling projects.

5. Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) Instead of GDP. Gross domestic product is really nonsense - the forest fires in BC this summer boosted our GDP, with all those fire fighting expenses and all the new houses being built. Let’s count what really matters - genuine progress and happiness. Why do we live, after all? Not to gather stuff, while the planet burns. The GPI solves this problem, and offers us a new way of measuring what really counts. (see also www.betterworld.com /BWZ/9610/learn.htm)

6. An Environmental Charter. Ima-gine an entire framework of law that gave fundamental protection to nature. The French are proposing to add an environmental charter to their constitution, alongside the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, stating (among other things) that "Every person has the right to live in a balanced environment that is conducive to his or her health and... the duty to participate in the conservation and improvement of the environment." If France, why not Canada?

7. Electoral Reform. Ah, but with such corrupt governments, none of this will ever happen - right? Wrong. With two little changes, democracy comes right back to life. The first is campaign finance reform, so that politicians are no longer corrupted by political donations. This became the law in Canada in July 2003. Amazing. The second is proportional representation, so that all parties are represented based on their popular vote, and no vote is ever wasted. Maybe BC will give the lead, if the Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform decides to recommend change in this direction.

8. A World Env-ironment Organiz-ation. But what about the rest of the world? Won’t the corporations just move overseas, and continue their abusive behaviour? Not if we develop a world environment organization with the power to enforce global environmental agreements and hear cases brought by public interest groups. Britain’s environment minister (1997 - 2003), Michael Meecher, thinks it’s essential.

9. A Change of Heart. Mother Earth would be so happy if more people stopped in their busy lives, and asked themselves "Am I fulfilling my highest purpose?"; "Am I contributing what I can to the protection and restoration of this planet, that gave me life?"

10. The Aliens Arrive. The Galactic Federation decides that we’re dishing out too much abuse to this planet that was entrusted to our care, so they’re taking over. We thought we were so incredible, but everyone else thinks we’re galactic delinquents. It’s mandatory Ecology 101 for everyone, from now on.

Guy Dauncey is the author of Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change (New Society Publishers, 2001) and other titles. He lives in Victoria. www.earthfuture.com

We thought we were so incredible, but everyone else thinks we’re galactic delinquents





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