‘Cruelty tax’

Dear Editor:

It was with dismay that I read the pro carbon tax rhetoric from Liz Armstrong, Ron Moore and Doug Prest in the Feb. 21 Letters to the Editor.

I would like to submit that given our current technological capacities, a carbon tax in Canada is little better than a cruelty tax.

I would like to paraphrase one of the most profound thinkers of the 20th century, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in that it is not the leaders and policies that make a system go off the rails, but it is the actions and decisions made by the myriad of individuals in the system.

I am not going to argue with regards to whether or not carbon affects climate change. I am going to ask that if we truly believe climate change is an issue, what are we as individuals doing about it?

The majority of homes are heated with natural gas; natural gas is a carbon fuel; how many of us opt to keep our homes at 15 C and wear sweaters to keep warm? What about that awesome trip south in the winter; excellent bragging rights, excellent experience, but did you once consider the unnecessarily huge carbon footprint you just made?  What about that trinket you just bought from Walmart, a nice shiny bobble that was made in China; did you consider the carbon footprint that was required to manufacture and then ship it halfway around the world? Let’s consider the new car or appliance; we can justify that the new technology makes them more efficient to operate, possibly, but what about the carbon required to produce them?

It seems to me a shame that we can justify replacing perfectly functioning commodities because the new ones are prettier, match the décor better, or just because.

In conclusion, I think it’s better to collectively start thinking about the things we can do to reduce our own personal carbon footprint than to buy into the nonsensical revenue-neutral rhetoric of a carbon tax.

Wayne Baker,

Wellington North