Getting a grip on gas costs
Getting off the sauce
The cousin nobody talks about
Getting a move on
Better cars, better future
What you can do

Climate change - the cousin nobody talks about

If you thought getting your pocket picked at the pump was bad, that’s only the beginning. Canadians actually pay for gasoline three times, starting with the billions of dollars in subsidies and other breaks that taxpayers shell out to oil companies, then again at the pump and finally through the financial cost of air pollution and smog.

In Ontario alone, smog costs upwards of $1 billion every year due to increased hospital admissions and lost work days.

Thanks to early smog-control measures, air pollution in our cities improved through the 1980s and early 1990s. But it’s getting worse again as more and more gas guzzling vehicles hit the streets.

Scientists tell us that all that car exhaust also creates a dome of carbon dioxide over our cities, leading to a “heat-island effect” that increases temperatures and the growth of fungi and plants like ragweed. According to a recent Harvard study, spores and pollen from these organisms combined with pollutants in the air can trigger asthma attacks and damage the respiratory system.

And then there’s climate change. Although the new climate change movie The Day After Tomorrow is a typical over-the-top Hollywood production, at least it is raising an important issue. Climate change is happening right now. It’s one of humanity’s biggest challenges, but in Canada it is still being treated like a minor problem that can be handled off the corner of the Environment Ministry’s desk.

Don't forget, Canada is obliged under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce the heat-trapping emissions that are causing climate change. While countries like Germany and Great Britain have reduced their emissions by more than 15 per cent since 1990, Canada’s have actually increased by more than 20 per cent.

While no one knows exactly what a changing climate will mean for Canada, current evidence suggests it will be bad - very bad. Increased heat means more smog in our cities and less rain to irrigate crops. It also means greater potential for forest fires, insect infestation and extreme weather. Many of these problems are already emerging and prospects for future generations will not be good unless we start acting now to reduce the pollution that causes climate change – much of which comes out of our tailpipes.

Next >> Getting a move on

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