Dear Editor,
Re: Tax not the solution, Mar. 1
First I want to thank Ashley Woods for responding to my letter. There needs to be more public conversation about climate change, how to address it, and to correct some misconceptions. It’s true that a carbon tax alone will not stop climate change. We need more tools to do that; however, a steadily rising tax on fossil fuels, particularly if the money collected is returned equally to all the citizens of Ontario, is the most effective way of weaning us off fossil fuels. Currently we are dumping about 36 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year, and unfortunately once emitted, it stays there for hundreds of years. So even if we stop burning fossil fuels today, the planet will continue warming through the greenhouse effect.
One of the promising tools for combating climate change is regenerative agriculture. This tool has the potential to remove about 5 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year, sequester it in the soil and improve soil health at the same time. Unfortunately 5 billion is a small portion of the 36 billion we are currently emitting each year, and this emphasizes how drastically we need to cut emissions.
There is an excellent book, “Drawdown” edited by Paul Hawken which describes 80 ways of combating climate change. None of them are easy, but we must do all we can to leave a liveable world for our children, grandchildren and perhaps even us!
Ron Moore,
Hillsburgh
Ron Moore