Solutions

Carbon is the ultimate equalizer.  Everyone causes emissions no matter how humble or luxurious their lifestyle.  Climate stabilization will eventually require a zero-carbon societal infrastructure.  Where we can substitute energy alternatives we must, where we cannot we will have to recover or sink emitted carbon.  Those who earn less than $1/day and cook over fires will need help. The one billion wealthiest citizens of Earth may face the hardest challenge, for they have to do the most.  The industrialized world must deploy alternative energy technology, using the last of the allowable fossil fuels to manufacture what is needed.  This is now a motivational challenge – we pretty much know what to do. The pieces are in place, but all need to be scaled up. How can individuals help?  First is to understand  the problem and the challenge it poses.  Next is to recognize that cooperation is essential, no one can be left out.  Then we can address our consumption of energy through consumption, food, and travel.  High priority activities include:

Cap and Dividend

The latest science on global warming shows we must rapidly slash carbon emissions, or face catastrophic impacts on both nature and our civilization by the end of the century.  How can we begin to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions both fairly and effectively? Cap and Dividend caps fossil fuel supplies and hence emissions, collects payments from polluters and returns the dividends to citizens and priority transition technologies. Learn more.

Carbon Tax

Mention the word "tax" to most people and you'll often get a rant about how much the government skims from their paycheques. The carbon tax we're talking about, however, is revenue neutral. In other words, it won't add any money to government coffers and should even leave you with more money in your pocket. And like many taxes, payment raises our level of attention, in this case to our carbon consumption.  Here's how a carbon tax works. Here's how a carbon tax works.

Protecting Our Forests

B.C.'s coastal rainforest is the biggest carbon storehouse in the province. Other forest lands, too, have great potential as allies in the fight against climate change—if we nurture and maintain their carbon-absorbing capacity. Right now, B.C.'s forest lands are actually a major source of emissions: they release more carbon dioxide than they absorb. Learn more.

Blue Carbon

B.C.'s estuaries hold extraordinary potential for moderating climate change and should be our highest priority for conservation of any marine or terrestrial habitat.  A 2010 Sierra Club BC report evaluates the carbon storage potential of two highly productive marine habitats—salt marsh and seagrass meadows—in the light of a recent studies illuminating the crucial role of marine coastal vegetation in binding and sequestering carbon. Learn more.