I was watching David Suzuki the other day and he was saying that all the dire predictions he made in the 80s or 90s are coming true. This wasn’t so much alarming because some of the effects of global warming are present and being announced on TV, the shocking part was that all his predictions were supposed to be clearly seen and acted on in 100 – 150 years.

Weather patterns, glacier reduction and melting permafrost, endangerment of various species (if it can kill a polar bear where do we think we’ll end up), and tons of natural disasters globally may finally be enough to force the world into doing more than just drawing up plans. IT IS TIME FOR ACTION!

Perhaps this sounds pretty frightening and makes people want to see the government do something immediately but implementing changes on the scale that they need to happen will throw the world into a tailspin. Lost jobs from closing down primary industries worldwide would destroy thousands upon thousands of jobs. For example, no more clear cutting the rain forests means a lot of people are out of a job. Mills that spew and sputter toxic emissions (at least for the ozone) will have to be reduced. This little town would shrink up and wilt away without such an industry perhaps. Hamilton, Ontario and other steel towns around the world would take a huge hit. These examples are just off the top of my head.

The economic impact will leave us shuddering as much as the extreme temperatures. It is obvious that reducing emissions by x % will not be enough. Our entire view on business will have to shift. There is not going to be enough time or resources to get this thing rolling. The last I heard on CTV was that it is already too late to feel the effects of any changes that we may implement now. The changes will help us down the road for sure but for now the suggestion is to simply get ready to live in a wetter and more extreme world.

I’m no political scientist but you can pretty much tell that the government will not change in the way it works and therefore we are looking at years and not months for the changes suggested in any report to become effective. Everyone’s thinking has to change. We shouldn’t be looking at industry curbing things; we should be making industry the leader in fostering environmentally friendly initiatives. They still have to reduce everything but they have to invest heavily in the new global objective.

I don’t want to be the purveyor of bad tidings; I’m just trying to get the community aware of the crisis we are facing. I have a few suggestions to help us fight off the effects of our changing world. Perhaps we should be looking into communal areas, not just malls, where people can do more than just sit. Other considerations might include compulsory times for public gatherings to reduce individual output, cuts in the workday and bans on traffic other than designated public transit for certain hours of the day. And if you are thinking that this sounds inconvenient, this is nothing compared to the inconveniences yet to be faced from our changing world. Always offer suggestions along with your criticism my mentor once told me. We can all see that it is grim but we all need to start looking at ways to implement the needed changes. What changes can Campbellton contribute? What are we to do?

What is the answer then? I say it will be TAXES! Or at least that will probably be the governments’ answer. This all assumes that we are going to be able to maintain any form of government once our food chain melts down (30% of Earth’s life forms are being threatened with extinction) and we have no fuel to warm us or cool us from the extreme temperatures. So the question I guess is how will we be taxed? I expect it will be called the Green Tax.

The Green Tax will be different from any other tax base you have seen to date. The Green Tax is going to be the only effective means of combating our current nemesis, global warming. The biggest contributors to pollution will be at the front lines. They are going to be hit so hard that they will either close the doors or learn to do business differently.Taking the money and running won’t be an option either; rip the planet then try to take the money and run and the government takes 50% of holdings.  We aren’t talking cutbacks we are talking about cut-offs. The trick here is that the employer will be responsible for their share of Green Tax but the employee can be used as part of the payback plan. Large corporations will have community care plans (assigned by the community leaders) merged into the corporate structure and rewards and incentives will go to the employees that bolster the green factor of the business.

The Green Tax will not just tax the rich. It will tax the poor as well but not from their income, but their output. There will be work programs based on communal resources that will have workers delegated to chores. Communal housing will be more common, no pun intended. The Poll Tax concept from Europe will be part of the new Green Tax and people will be taxed for having children to help keep populations down. The government will be fining people for breaking new Green Laws. Political restructuring and sweeping social reform will have us spinning so bad that we won’t have time for voicing our laments of unfair treatment.

As I’ve mentioned, these are merely suggestions off the top of my head. There are many more qualified people to address the implementation of any programs that are going to be needed. I simply wish to point out that it is time for the programs NOW. These things are compulsory for our planet whether we acknowledge them now or later – when it will be too late.

Greed got us into this situation. Greed kept us in this situation. Only greed can stop us from fixing this situation. Who of our cities rich and famous, who from our political representatives, will be among the first to make the stand? Will it perhaps be the poor tenant who finally turns the heat to economy settings even though the heat is included or recycles paper and plastic? Where is the first ray of hope to be gleaned from?