Thank God for the COP 21 Agreement

This agreement has never been more timely. The pictures in this article are a graphic warning that there is no time  to waste in accelerating the adoption of renewable energy, a broad commitment to raise and diversify R&D spending on the rapid adoption of more sustainable transportation systems, and continuing innovation from business leaders on the take-up of hybrid and electric vehicles worldwide.

Hopefully, the decades of climate skepticism are at an end, and the vested interests against change now realize that a carbon netural economy is the new normal.

See below for an inforgraphic on the global top 10 greenhouse gas emitters. For other invaluable climate information and data, see CAIT Climate Data Explorer.

And this change is indeed possible in our lifetime, as evidenced by the continuing decrease in rape, battering, crimes, deadly riots, child abuse and cruelty to animals over our history. George Monbiot from the Guardian points out, “If we can stop killing each other so rapidly, we can just as easily and just as quickly stop killing the other beings that inhabit our planet. Human peace and prosperity do not depend on ecological violence. Indeed, it could be argued that they depend on its cessation.

Let’s work together to ensure that Canada leads the world by implementing two critical first steps—the immediate elimination of all oil and gas subsidies and a strategic action plan for leaving oil in the ground—so that we begin to realize the benefits of the new economy beginning in 2016.

 

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