Sixty-Five Solutions for Climate Change in Canada
Sixty-Five Solutions for Climate Change in Canada
The Issue
We all know the problems that climate change pose to the world. You don't need me to spell them out to you. In this petition, I ask we all send an e-mail to individuals throughout the Canadian federal government as well as provincial governments requesting they consider this list of 65 solutions to climate change which are tailored to the Canadian situation.
The 65 assertions:
1) We need to radically improve the efficiency of recycling projects so what might possibly be recycled but isn't, is in fact recycled. We cannot accept excuses for failing to recycle the recyclable.
2) The design of every product should be 100% compatible with recycling technological needs - from labels and their glue to the shape of the bottles.
3) We should implement research and development of AI sorting technologies to reduce the cost of sorting and increase our overall recycling efficiency.
4) We should use compostable packaging whenever possible.
5) We should subsidize the end-products of efficiently-recycled materials or otherwise subsidize biodegradable containers so they are too competitive to ignore.
6) We should invest in research to determine how to effectively capture methane from landfills. Perforated tubes can be sent down into the mass of a landfill which is further piped to a central collection area where it can be vented or flared, or possibly converted into fuel.
https://drawdown.org/solutions/landfill-methane-capture
7) We should mandate the capturing of methane from cows.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/cows-climate-change-methane-stop
8) We should invest in researching optimized production of and subsidize the production of low-carbon PLA plastic.
https://packagingeurope.com/low-carbon-footprint-of-pla-confirmed-by-peer-reviewed-life-/
9) We should invest in researching ways to more affordably produce low-carbon concrete and steel.
https://www.carbonclean.com/blog/steel-co2-emissions
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/low-carbon-cement-can-help-combat-climate-change/
10) We should invest in assisting in the research of diamond nanobatteries made out of nuclear waste in order to improve the ethical viability of producing nuclear power, such as to have a more robust renewable energy economy:
https://interestingengineering.com/are-radioactive-diamond-batteries-the-solution-to-nuclear-waste
11) Given the ability to reliably convert nuclear waste into batteries, we should invest in new nuclear power projects.
12) We need to protect forests and grow new trees. Further, we should avoid growing monoculture forests as we have but invest in growing diverse and resilient forests.
13) We should invest in researching how to efficiently and affordably produce lab-grown meat. We need to make risky research investments because our present infrastructure cannot merely be tweaked to task, and we cannot sustainably survive as total vegetarians or vegans.
https://www.producer.com/news/chinese-company-serves-up-lab-grown-pork/
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/synthetic-meat-climate-160013517.html
14) We should replace black concrete with white concrete wherever possible.
15) We should subsidize low-carbon and low-methane food options wherever possible.
16) We should subsidize insect-meat (ugh, I know, I know, but still). If market adoption is a problem then we should invest in research and design to make more acceptable and palatable styles of food with insect meat.
17) We should invest in urban agriculture, subsidize farmers markets and subsidize any food which has a lower carbon cost due to reduced transportation from its source. For example, Canadian-produced cereals like Shreddies should be more competitive than cereals which require more transportation to arrive in Canada.
18) We should invest in or subsidize manufacturing renewable vehicles in Canada as well as subsidize how affordable renewable vehicles are.
19) We should radically increase the use of renewable energy sources by our public transit systems.
20) Even without a Conservative government, a $5 billion investment in carbon capture and storage is a necessity. We must both stop using fossil fuels and remove carbon from the atmosphere. We have no other option.
21) We should subsidize property-owners' ability to retrofit their homes in order to reduce the escape of heat.
22) We should subsidize the production of electric and wind-power, especially onshore wind turbines.
23) We should subsidize the ability of farmers to engage in cover cropping and rotational grazing as an alternative to the use of industrial fertilizers.
24) We need to mobilize to preserve wetlands, grasslands and forests.
25) This is a personal affectation, but while we debate whether carbon taxes should just funnel back into the government or be given out as a cap-and-trade, I personally think all money earned from carbon taxes should directly go to initiatives designed to reduce climate change.
26) Global poverty and the pollution of developing nations is a major contribution to climate change. We should altruistically help developing nations develop renewably by investing in companies that are tied up producing renewable energy in India or in African nations.
27 We should invest in the research and development of battery-free devices.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/battery-free-electronics-bfree-ewaste-b1924692.html
28) We should invest in researching gravity energy storage.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/gravity-energy-storage-will-show-its-potential-in-2021
29) We should invest in hydrogen "power paste."
https://www.electrive.com/2021/02/02/fraunhofer-develops-hydrogen-storage-paste/
30) We need to bind down upon bycatching fishing methods as well as the use of trawls, gillnets and dredges.
31) We need to regulate scientifically determined quotas to ensure we balance our catches of fish with what is needed to maintain a productive fish population.
32) We should further subsidize locally-caught sustainable fish to compete with salmon and tuna and reward businesses that feature sustainable fish options.
33) We should invest in the research and development of silvopasture agricultural methods.
34) We should grow additional cover crops in late summer-fall with or after the cash crop, in early spring before planting the cash crop, or on fallow areas.
35) We should amend agricultural soils with biochar produced by converting crop residue to recalcitrant carbon (i.e., charcoal) through pyrolysis.
36) We should implement the “4R” best practices (right source, right rate, right time, and right place) for use of nitrogen fertilizer.
37) We should seek improved management of dairy and hog manure by acidification of slurries in manure handling facilities to reduce methanogenesis.
38) We should convert the grain industry into legume industries wherever possible.
39) We should regulate such as to achieve an expanded use of no-till or reduced tillage practices in
croplands.
40) We should seek to plant trees in 30-m riparian buffers around all water bodies in agricultural zones where forests are the natural land cover.
41) We should increase the presence of legumes in grazed pastures to reduce the application of nitrogen fertilizers.
42) We should avoid the loss of shelterbelts across Canada’s Prairie provinces.
43) We should restore cropland to grassland or shrubland in areas with severe limitations on agricultural production and ensure the presence of 30-m riparian grassland buffers around all water bodies, including prairie pothole wetlands, in all agricultural lands within areas that would not naturally support forests.
44) We should integrate the set-asides of old growth forests, enhanced forest regeneration in postharvest stands, and utilize harvest residues (logging slash) that would have otherwise been burned for bioenergy, as well as increase our use of saw logs for long-lived wood products.
45) We need to avoid the conversion of 20,143 ha/year of forests to agriculture, oil/gas, mining, industry, forestry roads, transportation networks, municipal, and recreation development.
46) We need to increase the average tree canopy cover from 24 to 36% in Canada’s urban areas.
47) We should cancel all new oil pipeline projects.
48) We need to cancel all new oil exploration projects, including offshore projects.
49) We must ban fracking.
50) Bitumen production needs to be phased out by 2035.
51) We need to stop subsidizing the fossil fuel sector and move those subsidies to climate-friendly sectors of the economy, many of which have been noted above.
52) We ought to end the leasing of federal lands for fossil future production and retire existing licenses.
53) Federal public investment funds must divest from fossil fuels.
54) We need a just transition act that protects workers and communities during transitions away from reliance on fossil fuel markets and ensure companies are the entities paying for the expenses of these transitions.
55) We should implement wage-insurance programs for people who lose their jobs, retraining programs and early retirement offers.
56) We should bind down on tax loopholes and tax havens.
57) We should implement a youth climate corps as a government jobs training program related to many of the necessary tasks listed above.
58) From 2022 to 2030, we need to increase our carbon taxes by $25 per tonne each year.
59) We need to make planned obsolescence, frankly, obsolete.
60) We should establish green procurement practices.
61) We should ratify the Basel Ban Amendment and strengthen Canada’s rules for plastic waste trade.
62) We should enact a Carbon Border Adjustment to protect Canadian companies against disadvantage in competition with foreign companies.
63) We should create a national coast to coast to coast energy corridor for green renewable energy by building up the inter-ties needed to link existing provincial grids.
64) We should change the national building code to require that all new construction and major renovations to older buildings meet net-zero standards by 2030.
65) We should stop exporting US coal.
This was no short list of possible solutions, but this is due to the fact that the problems the world faces are complex and border-agnostic. There is no way Canada can contribute to solving the problem without taking a holistic strategy. The longer we wait to implement any strategy, the more drastic the strategies we must implement. This is because every year of delay is another year's greenhouse gas emissions we must tackle but with one fewer year to implement solutions. We do not have time. We must act now and with wartime resolve.
We have an absolute and unavoidable moral obligation to radically implement solutions not at the pace of politics, not even at the pace of industry - but even faster than that.
I recognize that nuclear power is a contentious issue for many. If you do cannot see the rationale in using nuclear power if we can convert nuclear waste into batteries, I ask you delete those items and send the list without them. Better to have you onboard for most of the solutions offered than none. Deal?
204
The Issue
We all know the problems that climate change pose to the world. You don't need me to spell them out to you. In this petition, I ask we all send an e-mail to individuals throughout the Canadian federal government as well as provincial governments requesting they consider this list of 65 solutions to climate change which are tailored to the Canadian situation.
The 65 assertions:
1) We need to radically improve the efficiency of recycling projects so what might possibly be recycled but isn't, is in fact recycled. We cannot accept excuses for failing to recycle the recyclable.
2) The design of every product should be 100% compatible with recycling technological needs - from labels and their glue to the shape of the bottles.
3) We should implement research and development of AI sorting technologies to reduce the cost of sorting and increase our overall recycling efficiency.
4) We should use compostable packaging whenever possible.
5) We should subsidize the end-products of efficiently-recycled materials or otherwise subsidize biodegradable containers so they are too competitive to ignore.
6) We should invest in research to determine how to effectively capture methane from landfills. Perforated tubes can be sent down into the mass of a landfill which is further piped to a central collection area where it can be vented or flared, or possibly converted into fuel.
https://drawdown.org/solutions/landfill-methane-capture
7) We should mandate the capturing of methane from cows.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/cows-climate-change-methane-stop
8) We should invest in researching optimized production of and subsidize the production of low-carbon PLA plastic.
https://packagingeurope.com/low-carbon-footprint-of-pla-confirmed-by-peer-reviewed-life-/
9) We should invest in researching ways to more affordably produce low-carbon concrete and steel.
https://www.carbonclean.com/blog/steel-co2-emissions
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/low-carbon-cement-can-help-combat-climate-change/
10) We should invest in assisting in the research of diamond nanobatteries made out of nuclear waste in order to improve the ethical viability of producing nuclear power, such as to have a more robust renewable energy economy:
https://interestingengineering.com/are-radioactive-diamond-batteries-the-solution-to-nuclear-waste
11) Given the ability to reliably convert nuclear waste into batteries, we should invest in new nuclear power projects.
12) We need to protect forests and grow new trees. Further, we should avoid growing monoculture forests as we have but invest in growing diverse and resilient forests.
13) We should invest in researching how to efficiently and affordably produce lab-grown meat. We need to make risky research investments because our present infrastructure cannot merely be tweaked to task, and we cannot sustainably survive as total vegetarians or vegans.
https://www.producer.com/news/chinese-company-serves-up-lab-grown-pork/
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/synthetic-meat-climate-160013517.html
14) We should replace black concrete with white concrete wherever possible.
15) We should subsidize low-carbon and low-methane food options wherever possible.
16) We should subsidize insect-meat (ugh, I know, I know, but still). If market adoption is a problem then we should invest in research and design to make more acceptable and palatable styles of food with insect meat.
17) We should invest in urban agriculture, subsidize farmers markets and subsidize any food which has a lower carbon cost due to reduced transportation from its source. For example, Canadian-produced cereals like Shreddies should be more competitive than cereals which require more transportation to arrive in Canada.
18) We should invest in or subsidize manufacturing renewable vehicles in Canada as well as subsidize how affordable renewable vehicles are.
19) We should radically increase the use of renewable energy sources by our public transit systems.
20) Even without a Conservative government, a $5 billion investment in carbon capture and storage is a necessity. We must both stop using fossil fuels and remove carbon from the atmosphere. We have no other option.
21) We should subsidize property-owners' ability to retrofit their homes in order to reduce the escape of heat.
22) We should subsidize the production of electric and wind-power, especially onshore wind turbines.
23) We should subsidize the ability of farmers to engage in cover cropping and rotational grazing as an alternative to the use of industrial fertilizers.
24) We need to mobilize to preserve wetlands, grasslands and forests.
25) This is a personal affectation, but while we debate whether carbon taxes should just funnel back into the government or be given out as a cap-and-trade, I personally think all money earned from carbon taxes should directly go to initiatives designed to reduce climate change.
26) Global poverty and the pollution of developing nations is a major contribution to climate change. We should altruistically help developing nations develop renewably by investing in companies that are tied up producing renewable energy in India or in African nations.
27 We should invest in the research and development of battery-free devices.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/battery-free-electronics-bfree-ewaste-b1924692.html
28) We should invest in researching gravity energy storage.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/gravity-energy-storage-will-show-its-potential-in-2021
29) We should invest in hydrogen "power paste."
https://www.electrive.com/2021/02/02/fraunhofer-develops-hydrogen-storage-paste/
30) We need to bind down upon bycatching fishing methods as well as the use of trawls, gillnets and dredges.
31) We need to regulate scientifically determined quotas to ensure we balance our catches of fish with what is needed to maintain a productive fish population.
32) We should further subsidize locally-caught sustainable fish to compete with salmon and tuna and reward businesses that feature sustainable fish options.
33) We should invest in the research and development of silvopasture agricultural methods.
34) We should grow additional cover crops in late summer-fall with or after the cash crop, in early spring before planting the cash crop, or on fallow areas.
35) We should amend agricultural soils with biochar produced by converting crop residue to recalcitrant carbon (i.e., charcoal) through pyrolysis.
36) We should implement the “4R” best practices (right source, right rate, right time, and right place) for use of nitrogen fertilizer.
37) We should seek improved management of dairy and hog manure by acidification of slurries in manure handling facilities to reduce methanogenesis.
38) We should convert the grain industry into legume industries wherever possible.
39) We should regulate such as to achieve an expanded use of no-till or reduced tillage practices in
croplands.
40) We should seek to plant trees in 30-m riparian buffers around all water bodies in agricultural zones where forests are the natural land cover.
41) We should increase the presence of legumes in grazed pastures to reduce the application of nitrogen fertilizers.
42) We should avoid the loss of shelterbelts across Canada’s Prairie provinces.
43) We should restore cropland to grassland or shrubland in areas with severe limitations on agricultural production and ensure the presence of 30-m riparian grassland buffers around all water bodies, including prairie pothole wetlands, in all agricultural lands within areas that would not naturally support forests.
44) We should integrate the set-asides of old growth forests, enhanced forest regeneration in postharvest stands, and utilize harvest residues (logging slash) that would have otherwise been burned for bioenergy, as well as increase our use of saw logs for long-lived wood products.
45) We need to avoid the conversion of 20,143 ha/year of forests to agriculture, oil/gas, mining, industry, forestry roads, transportation networks, municipal, and recreation development.
46) We need to increase the average tree canopy cover from 24 to 36% in Canada’s urban areas.
47) We should cancel all new oil pipeline projects.
48) We need to cancel all new oil exploration projects, including offshore projects.
49) We must ban fracking.
50) Bitumen production needs to be phased out by 2035.
51) We need to stop subsidizing the fossil fuel sector and move those subsidies to climate-friendly sectors of the economy, many of which have been noted above.
52) We ought to end the leasing of federal lands for fossil future production and retire existing licenses.
53) Federal public investment funds must divest from fossil fuels.
54) We need a just transition act that protects workers and communities during transitions away from reliance on fossil fuel markets and ensure companies are the entities paying for the expenses of these transitions.
55) We should implement wage-insurance programs for people who lose their jobs, retraining programs and early retirement offers.
56) We should bind down on tax loopholes and tax havens.
57) We should implement a youth climate corps as a government jobs training program related to many of the necessary tasks listed above.
58) From 2022 to 2030, we need to increase our carbon taxes by $25 per tonne each year.
59) We need to make planned obsolescence, frankly, obsolete.
60) We should establish green procurement practices.
61) We should ratify the Basel Ban Amendment and strengthen Canada’s rules for plastic waste trade.
62) We should enact a Carbon Border Adjustment to protect Canadian companies against disadvantage in competition with foreign companies.
63) We should create a national coast to coast to coast energy corridor for green renewable energy by building up the inter-ties needed to link existing provincial grids.
64) We should change the national building code to require that all new construction and major renovations to older buildings meet net-zero standards by 2030.
65) We should stop exporting US coal.
This was no short list of possible solutions, but this is due to the fact that the problems the world faces are complex and border-agnostic. There is no way Canada can contribute to solving the problem without taking a holistic strategy. The longer we wait to implement any strategy, the more drastic the strategies we must implement. This is because every year of delay is another year's greenhouse gas emissions we must tackle but with one fewer year to implement solutions. We do not have time. We must act now and with wartime resolve.
We have an absolute and unavoidable moral obligation to radically implement solutions not at the pace of politics, not even at the pace of industry - but even faster than that.
I recognize that nuclear power is a contentious issue for many. If you do cannot see the rationale in using nuclear power if we can convert nuclear waste into batteries, I ask you delete those items and send the list without them. Better to have you onboard for most of the solutions offered than none. Deal?
204
The Decision Makers
Petition created on September 26, 2021