I woke up this morning to another beautiful day in Bancroft. We have enjoyed some sunny, warm weather this spring and summer. I think of my grandchildren and how they enjoy swimming in our clean lakes and in the ocean on their vacations, their keen interest in the environment and nature. And then I think about how this is all going to change. Due to my participation in developing a Sustainable Plan for Bancroft, I have read a lot in the last year about our environment. The scientific world agrees that by the time my seven year-old grandson is middle-aged, the world will have changed drastically, due to climate change created by the way that we live. There is also little debate about the fact that we will run out of oil – potentially in my lifetime.
I sat on my deck this morning reading in the Toronto Star about the vast volume of oil that has been pumped into the Gulf of Mexico by BP’s ruptured well. Did you know that in 2005, BP promised to spend $1.8 billion on solar energy in the next three years? That is quite a pittance compared to the $20 billion that they are spending on the oil clean up, and they cannot reverse the damage that has been done. But do Canadians care? The Star reports that president Obama reacted to this tragedy with some drastic changes in U.S. policies on off-shore drilling. As a result, it is now far more cost effective for the oil companies to drill in Canadian waters, because our government doesn’t think that safeguards are needed for drilling - even in our colder, more isolated & therefore more vulnerable, Canadian waters. Does this bother you like it does me?
Bu I am not writing about doom & gloom. I believe that we want to change this and there is no question that we have the technology to do so. But do we have the initiative? Canadians have the reputation of being a complacent society, but this is something that will not go away. Reversing climate change requires action. When Mayor David Miller was in Bancroft to speak at our spring Sustainable Symposium, part of the theme of his discussion was that a change toward a more sustainable world is getting it’s drive from large and small communities around the world. We cannot wait for the federal government to enact legislation. We have to make a change in our daily lives. It is up to individuals working together to drive the change.
I have had the pleasure of working with some dedicated individuals from this community to develop a draft sustainable plan for Bancroft. I know that other communities around us are doing the same thing. This is an important long-term plan towards developing a healthy community over the next 30 years. Is there anyone who would not benefit from this? There are potential actions outlined in the plan, but they need people to make them happen. We need you to help make this a reality!
In his book “The Geography of Hope”, Chris Turner, who writes about sustainability for the Globe and Mail, states this about climate change: “…there is the chance to be part of possibly the greatest project in the history of civilization, to be at the forefront of the generation that confronted the worst conflagration the world had ever seen-and sorted it out….. To look back perhaps a half a century from now, to say to our children-to our grandchildren-that we took all this on, fought and thought, worked our asses off, tried and failed and tried again, and finally got this wondrous new contraption moving down a clear path toward that sustainable city on a hill-what could be better, more worthwhile, more flat out balls-to-the-wall exhilarating, than to be part of that?
What else are you working on right now? What great project that would rest upon your soul like the many bars of ribbon on a war hero’s chest? What that you would point to, and look your grandkids in the eye, and say “Now that was worth the fight”? I know how I’d answer this one:
There’s nothing else.
Only this: To be part of the generation that beat climate change.”
We can all be part of a positive change. Look at your community’s Sustainable Plan, and if there isn’t one, help create it. Give feedback, participate in the actions needed to make this happen. Bancroft’s plan is on the Town’s website: http://www.town.bancroft.on.ca . Click on Sustainable Bancroft. This is a grassroots effort. Everyone can do a small part to make a huge difference. GET INVOVED!
