It is 2024 and the clock is ticking.
Our economic model for the past two hundred years has been based on inflation. In order for investment to occur, the people with money wanted a return on their investment.
So rather than the cost of a new chair being based on the materials and labour spent in its construction, the cost was always at an inflated price. Sometimes at a greatly inflated price. A simplistic economic view but it has held sway since the times of Adam Smith and the invisible hand.
The problem with the profit motive – a good return-on-investment – is that it becomes the goal. Making money is what it is all about. The more money you make, the better off you are.
Is that what life is really about, though?
At the end of your days, are you going to wish you had a few more dollars in your pocket? Or will you be wishing your grandchildren and great grandchildren are able to live long, healthy lives?
Some people would argue a few more dollars means you can leave more money to your offspring. Fair enough. But that just continues the cycle.
In a world of climate extremes – of heatwaves, floods, droughts, forest fires, and winter storms – what sort of life will our children have?
As much as I don’t think the carbon tax was a good idea as it has tended to garner support behind the “let’s not do anything about climate change” faction, it is a tool both our provincial and federal government have used to decrease emissions. Better would be if all of the revenue from the carbon tax was being spent on clean, green projects.
South of the border, some states have carbon costing. Others have brought on infrastructure changes which have seen the elimination of coal-fired power plants while shifting to green energy. The net result is a decline to 2.3 percent below 1990 levels and an impressive 18.1 percent decrease since peak carbon emissions in 2007.
President Joe Biden introduced legislation which will speed the process, spending a trillion dollars in the process.
We can axe the carbon tax but what do we replace it with to ensure our children’s future? Pierre Poilievre doesn’t seem to have any idea.
Todd Whitcombe is a chemistry professor at the University of Northern B.C.
