Editor, The News:
Unlike previous United Nations Climate Conferences, the one that just wrapped up in Durban, South Africa came and went without much in the way of media coverage.
And although the final agreement hammered out by the nations that were present committed the world’s biggest carbon emitters, China and the U.S., to legally binding carbon reductions, these carbon reductions won’t actually come into effect for a number of years.
But things may not be as discouraging as they seem, because against the backdrop of slow progress on climate change a spirited environmental movement has emerged in China, currently the world’s biggest emitter of carbon.
As was previously the case in the industrialized west, China’s rapid industrialization, and the growing affluence of its people, has resulted in widespread public concern about pollution. In fact, in a recent major protest in Guangdong province, 30,000 people rallied against plans for another coal-fired power plant in the town of Haimen.
That’s where I think British Columbia can help. British Columbia has plenty of clean energy resources we can tap into to meet the energy needs of our province, now and well into the future.
That means British Columbia is well-positioned to export our province’s equally plentiful natural gas resources to China to help offset their use of coal as they transition to renewable clean energy sources.
Natural gas produces less than half the carbon emissions of coal, and that would go a long way toward helping China meet its carbon reduction objectives while creating jobs here in British Columbia.
Sandra Robinson
Maple Ridge
