本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛I agree that almost all of the environmental damage in the world has been caused by western nations. We continue to be far too greedy and exploit much more than our fair share of the resources of this planet. In many ways it is only because we are so wealthy and comfortable that we have the luxury of being able to think about environmental issues. Most people in the world are just trying to get by from one day to the next.
This is one of the reasons that I thought that the Kyoto Protocol was such a good thing. It is an agreement to try and stop climate change by reducing emissions of CO2 which come from burning gas coal etc. It acknowledges that developed countries have been the ones pumping CO2 into the atmosphere for the last 100 years, and so it proposes limits on their future CO2 emissions. It does not put any limits on developing countries – like China and India. But it allows developed nations to reach their targets by helping to provide clean technologies to those countries. I think that’s very fair. It’s a pity that George Bush, and now Steven Harper, don’t agree…..
Also, I would never claim myself to be some great example of environmentally correct behaviour. I try to do what I can, but still, I drive a car, take airplane flights, and I have probably far too many possessions.
So, however we got here, the fact still remains that we have a lot of environmental problems in the world.
On a big scale we have climate change, which is raising sea levels so that coastlines, and even whole islands are disappearing. Severe weather patterns are becoming more common. Ice caps are melting so animals like polar bears are becoming threatened with extinction, and many other species are being affected too. Coral reefs which support thousands of animal species in the sea are being destroyed. All these things will eventually affect us all one way or another.
On a smaller scale we have local issues in Toronto. I heard on TV this morning that 100 trucks a day take our garbage down to Michigan USA. 100 trucks per day!! In terms of pollution, waste of fuel and traffic that’s just crazy!
Over the years I’ve come to realise that as consumers we really drive all these issues. It’s the little choices we make every day about what we buy, how we get to work, how we use our electricity etc that make a big contribution, or not, to these problems. So, if we feel that these things are important, we shouldn’t blame other people and just try to do what we can to live our life in a ‘green’ way.更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
This is one of the reasons that I thought that the Kyoto Protocol was such a good thing. It is an agreement to try and stop climate change by reducing emissions of CO2 which come from burning gas coal etc. It acknowledges that developed countries have been the ones pumping CO2 into the atmosphere for the last 100 years, and so it proposes limits on their future CO2 emissions. It does not put any limits on developing countries – like China and India. But it allows developed nations to reach their targets by helping to provide clean technologies to those countries. I think that’s very fair. It’s a pity that George Bush, and now Steven Harper, don’t agree…..
Also, I would never claim myself to be some great example of environmentally correct behaviour. I try to do what I can, but still, I drive a car, take airplane flights, and I have probably far too many possessions.
So, however we got here, the fact still remains that we have a lot of environmental problems in the world.
On a big scale we have climate change, which is raising sea levels so that coastlines, and even whole islands are disappearing. Severe weather patterns are becoming more common. Ice caps are melting so animals like polar bears are becoming threatened with extinction, and many other species are being affected too. Coral reefs which support thousands of animal species in the sea are being destroyed. All these things will eventually affect us all one way or another.
On a smaller scale we have local issues in Toronto. I heard on TV this morning that 100 trucks a day take our garbage down to Michigan USA. 100 trucks per day!! In terms of pollution, waste of fuel and traffic that’s just crazy!
Over the years I’ve come to realise that as consumers we really drive all these issues. It’s the little choices we make every day about what we buy, how we get to work, how we use our electricity etc that make a big contribution, or not, to these problems. So, if we feel that these things are important, we shouldn’t blame other people and just try to do what we can to live our life in a ‘green’ way.更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net