A beginner’s guide to global warming
Cutting through the carbon jargon jungle
Carbon pricing is no joke…
Some things you can do right now
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Environmentalism is a great equalizer. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, we all need clean air to breathe, and clean food and water to eat and drink. Lots of us are doing our best to lighten our eco-footprints. You ride your bike, turn off the lights, eat occasional meatless meals. What about those that don’t or won’t make the lifestyle changes available to all of us?

We know voluntary measures will only go so far. In some cases, we need government legislation,  such as British Columbia’s new tax which puts a price on carbon. In this issue, we’ll help you define the terms used to talk about carbon pricing, explain the reasons why they are being proposed, and give you some choices to lower your eco-footprint. But before we get to that, let’s be clear about the problem. How did we get into this mess in the first place?

A beginner's guide to global warming

If you're confused about climate change, you're not alone. Most people know it has something to do with industrial pollution, cow belches and car exhaust and they kind of get what Al Gore was trying to say but, when asked to explain the planet’s health problem in lay terms, there’s a lot of verbal stumbling.

Click on the image to the right to watch a video about global warming.

In a sentence, global warming is what happens when the insulating, life-protecting layer that is our atmosphere turns into a suffocating, heat-trapping blanket woven of carbon dioxide and other gases.

Here’s how that breaks down:

• When the earth is happy and healthy, it basks in the warmth of our life-giving star, the sun. While some of this heat bounces off into space, a small portion of it is kept close-by, contained in the delicate balance of gases that make up our atmosphere. (This layer of insulation is what makes life possible.  Without it, we would simply be another frozen rock hurtling through space.) Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important gas in this layer of insulation.

• CO2 is stored all over the planet – in plants, rocks, us. We upset the balance in the planet’s insulation when we release too much of it, too quickly – by burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), cutting down trees, churning up the soil and ocean, and (yes!) exhaling (that’s the six plus billion of us breathing out, along with the billions of animals we raise for food). 

• When the atmospheric balance that keeps the climate stable is disrupted, we have extreme effects around the globe. It’s like a thermostat that’s gone haywire – it just doesn’t work the way it should. Our light but cosy layer of insulation is now a thick, heat-trapping blanket.  The result: global warming.

North Americans are among the world’s greatest contributors to global warming. There are a number of tools that can help - investing in clean energy technologies, supporting research and innovation, and individuals doing the things you already do to lighten your carbon footprint. But deep behaviour changes are needed, and soon, if we are going to have any impact on reversing these disturbing changes. A tax on carbon might be the only way to get some people involved.

(Want to talk to others about the problem? Use this video to set the stage.)

Next >> Cutting through the carbon jargon jungle

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