I recently tried out a new website to determine my ecological footprint and I was rated at 7.1 hectares. By comparison, the average ecological footprint in Canada is 8.8 global hectares. While I’ve done a bit better than average, it still means that we would need 4 earths to live as I do, considering worldwide there exists 1.8 biologically productive global hectares per person. Some of the things I’ve done to minimize my footprint are: owning only one car for my wife and I, recycling and composting, installing a solar hot water heater in my home, and switching to compact fluorecent lights. On my recent trip to Alaska, I bought the Air Canada carbon-offset for $18 (click here for more information). To find out more about how you can reduce your impact on the earth, visit David Suzuki’s site for ideas: click here

What’s your footprint? Find out here: www.ecofoot.org

Leave a comment to let me know how you fare, and what you’ve been doing to reduce your footprint!

Toronto Star: Air Canada Goes Green

Yesterday I held a press conference at the Calgary Outdoor Resource Centre to highlight my concerns over the province’s river water quality. The government’s Measuring Up report indicated that only two out of Alberta’s six major riverways had “excellent” or “good” water quality. This is in decline from other years, and is of serious concern especially considering the diminishing quantity of water across the province. Watch some videos from yesterday morning:

Questioning the Government’s Water Plan

Some Solutions

There was an excellent article in the Edmonton Jounral on this subject today: Alberta rivers flooded with pollutants: report
The Medicine Hat news has also reported on this issue: Local River Quality ‘Good’
As well as the Red Deer Advocate: River Quality Decline

Want to get involved? Visit the Alberta Government’s website seeking feedback about the implementation of the Water for Life Stategy, and let them know what you think!

I wrote this for a panel discussion with ideas producer Paul Kennedy at the Banff School on June 18/07. What do you think??

A NEW KIND OF LEADERSHIP

“Where are we going? If so many previous ages ran into natural limits and crashed, how has our runaway train… been able to keep on gathering speed?”
Ronald Wright – Short History of Progress

The planet is at or over the tipping point at which severe and unpredictable consequences for all life, including people. Western countries are consuming levels of energy and producing emissions that are not sustainable economically, let alone environmentally. Fittingly, Western countries have the knowledge, technology and economic resources as well as the moral responsibility, to lead the way in progressive energy policies that will reduce fossil fuel use, increase carbon sequestration and move to clean, renewable energy sources.

Our current Alberta obsession with fossil fuels – rather than a balanced energy policy – has many characteristics of addiction – habitual use with progressive harmful effects. Other features outlined in The Addictive Society (Anne Wilson Schaef) include denial, arrogance, and interference with life-giving relationships.

As a politician the first step to leadership is admitting that I am part of the problem; the good news is that I can therefore be part of the solution.

I hereby acknowledge that I am an ‘oilaholic’. I am powerless over my addiction to oil and my life has become unmanageable. Light, heat, transportation and food all depends on fossil fuels. I am also sensitive to the fear among many of us in ‘Oilaholics Anonymous’ – that coming out may also be dangerous to our health. After all, I lost my job as Health Officer in 2002 for saying (in public) that I thought the Kyoto Accord to reduce fossil fuel use would be good for people’s health as well as the environment.

I believe addiction is part at least, of what we are up against, individually and collectively. And as the Stern Report says, we must invest significantly now or pay exceedingly high costs later, in lives and in displaced people from floods and famine.

Leadership for us in the Alberta Liberal Caucus it means very concrete action to set a cap on carbon emissions by 2012 and begin absolute reductions thereafter. In addition our policy would
a) reduce subsidies to the fossil fuel industry
b) increase incentives to level the energy playing field for energy efficiency technology and clean renewables.
c) establish a provincial Council including government, industry, the scientific community and NGO’s to chart a way forward
d) establish a fund, including money from the natural gas rebate program to retro-fit for energy efficient homes and businesses.

A New Kind of Leadership
I am intrigued by the notion of Servant-Leadership (also a book by Robert Greenleaf) which includes elements of adaptive leadership. Servant leaders recognize their humanity and shift, as needed, from leading to following; are able to critique and empower people; apologize when appropriate and inspire where possible; and move from reflection to action and back again. Leadership must be fully human, yet courageous; speak the unspeakable and be willing to be uncomfortable – modelling a new way of living. This is a tall order now, as it has always been. Today, activists, many of them women and youth, community and church groups; even politicians – are shifting economic, social and political thinking and action to emphasize our global unity and responsibility in this. The narrow economic straitjacket must cede to the primacy of environmental integrity. In Alberta today this is still heresy but the 50% of us whose job is not tied to the fossil fuel industry can and must speak this truth to power.

My own recovery from addiction is grounded in faith and the support of my family and community. As a step in my recovery I replaced my car with a bicycle and public transport; we ‘energuided’ our home and now heat our water with solar panels. We compost, recycle and try to invest ethically. At a deeper level I’m also working at simplifying my life, taking regular quiet time, learning to talk out my feelings, and finding new meaning and hope in social justice work – thanks in part to the women in my life.

Good leaders recognize the underlying psychological, social and spiritual and political malaise in which climate change has arisen and for which each of us must take responsibility. It is time for a new politics in which a new type of adaptive leader – Servant-leader – shares with all humanity the need to move through denial and arrogance and grief. And in hope, good leaders acknowledge that in the social and political cauldron of community we may yet learn together to heal ourselves and the planet.

David recently wrote a letter to the Stampede Board encouraging it to introduce some steps to “green” the Parade for next year. We’ll update you with the response when it arrives…

Dear Committee
Another wonderful event this year – my thanks again to all who organized the parade. I have seen evidence of environmental changes that are encouraging in our Stampede activities and I applaud these.
I would like (again) to suggest a shift to more environmentally friendly vehicles in the parade where possible.
In particular the dignitaries and politicians could show real leadership by traveling in vehicles such as wagons with horses, bicycles (which some of us would prefer) or small new cars including Smart cars and hybrids.
I would appreciate a meeting with the planning team as I feel strongly that Calgary has a great opportunity here to promote not only the best of the West in agricultural and farming activity but also the best in environmental thinking, without losing historic importance.
Idling in an older vehicle for 2 hours produces unhealthy emissions for all those in the parade AND sends a message that we are not moving forward with the times.
Westerners have always shown great respect for the land and the fresh air and I think we can take the next big step in communicating this through the parade.
I would be very grateful for a meeting to discuss the parade and to be updated fully on the many progressive decisions you’ve made for the future.
Sincere thanks
David

I just wanted to send a big thank you out to everyone who came to my Third Annual Stampede Breakfast! I estimate that around 1100 people showed up, despite the cold weather. I really enjoyed meeting so many people as I greeted in the line up, and I appreciate the issues and concerns that were shared with me.

I’d also like to once again thank my volunteers who made the breakfast possible, and who also made it such a great success. Hats off to you!

Please note also that I had some very generous donations. Thank you to the Sunnyside Market for the vegetarian sausage, to Ten Thousand Villages for the Fair Trade Organic Coffee, and to the Kensington Safeway for the $50 gift card.

It’s officially the season of Stampede Breakfasts! This morning I attended four fantastic breakfasts with Kevin Taft and my Calgary colleagues (Harry Chase, Dave Taylor and Craig Cheffins). We attended the CBC breakfast, the Calgary Tourism and Economic Development breakfast, the Kerby Centre breakfast and the Renfrew 50+ Club breakfast. Below are a few of the highlights:

Dave Taylor flipping pancakes at the CBC breakfast

Harry Chase in line for pancakes at the CBC breakfast

Craig Cheffins listening to community concerns at the Calgary Economic Development breakfast

Myself with Kevin Taft in my office after a wonderful morning of Stampede Breakfasts!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
The Calgary Mountainview Stampede Breakfast will be on Saturday July 7, from 8:00am-11:00am at the Hillhurst/Sunnyside Community Centre (1320 5th Ave NW) Everyone is welcome to join me for breakfast, with live entertainment, fair-trade organic coffee, vegetarian sausages and much more!

Here are some ideas from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for modest, tried-and-true mechanisms we can implement to quickly foster free-market solutions to global warming:

1.Feebates California is considering imposing a $2,500 fee on Hummers and other low-efficiency automobiles and then rebating that money to drivers who choose to purchase more efficient cars like hybrids. This cross between a fee and a rebate motivates manufacturers to develop less-polluting vehicles and is a perfect example of how to give consumers an incentive to conform their self-interest to the public interest, turning every driver into a guerrilla warrior in the battle against global warming.

2.Cap and Trade One of the most effective tools for harnessing markets to save civilization is a mandatory cap on planet-warming pollution one that begins by cutting emissions now and then reduces them eighty percent by 2050. Establishing mandatory limits in all industrial sectors would create a huge market for products and technologies that use less energy and emit far less carbon. In addition, companies that figure out how to cut their emissions to below their limit will earn credits that can be sold to those companies that can’t meet their quota, creating a powerful incentive to actually beat the pollution limits. California, New York and a dozen other states are already experimenting with various cap-and-trade systems, recognizing that if they level the playing field with marketwide limits and smart incentives, the market will respond. Clean Incentives Revenues from the sale of carbon credits under the cap-and-trade system should be used to create market-based financial incentives to speed the development and adoption of promising new technologies. Europe has created a gold rush in solar energy by promising to buy energy at premium pricing from homeowners who generate power from rooftop panels. All across Europe, citizens are scrambling to cover their roofs and homes with solar collectors and transform their residences into mini power plants. “Everyone is becoming an entrepreneur,” says Bill McDonough, an architect who has received three presidential awards for his sustainable designs. Connecticut already offers a rebate of up to $46,500 for homeowners who go solar, and Congress could boost the rapid expansion of existing technologies by providing similar incentives for solar water heaters, residential wind turbines, geothermal systems, modern electronic lighting and improved insulation. Incentives could also help Detroit convert to electric cars and encourage consumers to replace aging automobiles, washing machines, air conditioners and refrigerators.

3.Decoupling Utilities currently make money only by producing and selling us more electricity giving power companies little incentive to promote energy efficiency. California, however, has decoupled profits from energy sales, creating a new kind of market that rewards efficiency. Utilities make money not by selling power but by helping consumers use it more productively in their homes. The result: Californians use almost half as many kilowatts as other Americans. “We’ve been able to keep energy demand flat for thirty years with a rapidly growing population, while the average per-capita energy consumption for the rest of the nation has soared by fifty percent,” says Tom King, CEO of Pacific Gas and Electric. “And we haven’t even made a dent in the potential that’s out there we can go beyond anything anybody’s ever projected.”

4.Net Metering California also took an early lead in this area, allowing homeowners who install solar panels or wind turbines to sell their excess electricity back to the utility. The electric meter actually spins backward when the home is generating more electricity than it consumes, and customers are billed only for the net amount of energy they consume from the utility’s grid. “Our objective is to give every homeowner the incentive to turn their house into a clean-energy power station,” says King. “We can not only replace gasoline and dramatically reduce carbon emissions, but we’ll also have a grid that is more decentralized and hence more resilient.”

5.Performance Standards The quickest way to improve the energy efficiency of appliances, cars, trucks and buildings is to establish minimum standards based on the current state of technology. Rather than prescribing specific solutions, performance standards harness the market by establishing targets and rewarding companies that create the best emissions-cutting technology. The government has successfully done this for energy-intensive appliances like refrigerators, which now consume seventy-five percent less energy than they did twenty-five years ago.

We also need strong standards to keep some very bad technologies from rushing into the market under the banner of energy efficiency. A particularly ugly aspect of the current coal rush, for example, is the desire of the industry and its servants in Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to build a new breed of refinery that would liquefy coal to replace gasoline. Advocates claim that liquid coal is clean, but the process results in nearly twice as much carbon pollution per gallon as gasoline. And whatever the process, why would we want to create an entire new industry dependent on an energy source that is procured by blowing up mountains in Appalachia and strip-mining the West?