NEWS & VIEWS: How many Canadians does it take to change a light bulb? Or environmental policy?

As one of the key components in the Foundation’s Environments+Communities+Organizations (E+C+O) Leadership Framework™, it was an interesting week for environmental issues in Canada.

Building on his award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, the April 23^rd talk in Calgary by former US Vice President Al Gore prompted a wide range of reactions -- from a standing ovation by the crowd and positive reactions by environmental groups, to dismissive comments from political and industry leaders. That, unfortunately, is the current state of the climate change discussion – polar opposites.

Although we might legitimately continue to debate how best to accomplish significant greenhouse gas cuts in the shortest possible amount of time, it was disappointing to see continuing skepticism on the part of some elected leaders about the validity of the science around climate change. The Foundation’s position on climate change is unequivocal -- the question is no longer if it’s going to happen, but how soon and how bad.

The entrenched, “We’ll do what’s right for us” response that comes from some quarters clearly lacks a broader understanding about the collective global responsibility for environmental stewardship that all countries have. And, if various polls are correct, it fundamentally misreads the mood of most Canadians.

The time is for courageous acts of leadership – doing what’s right -- to protect a common human resource, not falling back on the default line of argumentation that it is someone else’s problem and responsibility. The onus for leadership rests in all quarters: elected officials, industry, and the public at large.

Conversely, it is correct to point out that much of the demand that is driving the expansion of energy development (and related increases in emissions) in Canada and elsewhere across the globe is linked to consumer pressure for more goods. While we don’t want to see the environment suffer, we’re often not (yet) ready to make the individual purchasing decisions – or, more importantly, the decisions to do without -- that would serve to reduce some of the pressures on world-wide energy demands.

But simply continuing the public and political rhetoric of who is responsible for changing the situation is not productive. Instead, the debate – and the research, and the action – must be about what types of reductions are going to have the most impact in the short term, and how we can work to influence both government policy and consumer behaviour in a converging direction.

Hot on the heels of the Gore-Alberta controversy came announcements on April 25th of the Federal government’s much-awaited “green plan” for a replacement to Canada’s Kyoto obligations, titled Turning the Corner. Although much-maligned in its early days by both industry and environmental groups for either its perceived toughness or lack thereof, the outline of the plan points to the legitimate need to address both the supply and demand parts of the climate change equation.

And that may start with the lowly light bulb.

As part of the plan, the Federal government picks up on initiatives already announced in Australia and Ontario to regulate the sale of incandescent light bulbs by 2012. At first blush, this seems too little and much too late, given the relatively small contributions of such measures to large-scale reductions in emissions.

Still, Environment Canada estimates that, if each of Canada’s 12-million households replaced just one incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent, the result would be equivalent to removing 66,000 cars from the roads (Basic Facts About Residential Lighting). If broader, national-level regulations like Australia’s were implemented, the emission savings might be equivalent to more than 1 million cars off the roads. That’s a big impact from a comparatively small and painless change in consumer behaviour.

So, how many Canadians does it take to change a single light bulb, or all of them? And how can we find ways to collaborate on a concerted, national-level plan of action for change? Stay tuned!

:: The Leading for Wellness Foundation