Carbon tax plan doesn’t go far enough

Re: Saying prayers over climate change, Sept. 2

It is absolutely critical that people of all faiths and of no faith affirm their responsibility as stewards of creation. The Pope knows that as do we. Unfortunately just praying will not save our air, our water our soil and all living creatures, including Homo Sapiens. This past June in Nature leading world climate analysts warned that we have only three years left to safeguard our planet. Three years. That’s it.

It is still possible for Canada to meet its commitment to the world to lower our greenhouse gases if, and I emphasize if, our carbon emissions begin to fall by 2020.

There is a worldwide accepted way to accomplish this. It is a fee placed on carbon emissions. The goal of taxing carbon is to purposefully change our buying and investing habits. To be a steward of creation means to stop using fossil fuels that are destroying our world. Fortunately here in Canada, a tax on carbon is a cornerstone of our PanCanadian Framework on Climate Change and Clean Growth. Wonderful thing.

But, here I want to focus on the key part of our tax on carbon that needs some serious tweaking. It is set way too low to encourage behaviour change. It must rise to at least $150/tonne by 2030. Otherwise we will continue to invest in and purchase fossil fuels. And that will, I’m afraid lead to the end to life as we know it.

I invite all people of prayer and of no prayer to tweet, message, FaceTime, email, call or send a letter to their Member of Parliament to push for a far more aggressive national carbon tax on all carbon emissions. We must heed to the warning in Nature and have the courage to switch as fast as we can to clean sources of energy such as the sun, the wind and biomass.

Pray for the courage to do that.

Carole Lavallee Chelmsford, Ont.