Sunday, December 08, 2002
The Editor,
Ottawa Citizen
(The Editor,
Calgary Herald)
Re: Personal Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions
Dear Sir,
Kate Jaimet's article ("The Kyoto goal -- Is it possible?" Sunday, December 8, 2002) inspired me to document my personal commitment to greenhouse gas savings since 1990.
(Kate Jaimet's article in the Calgary Herald ("The Cost of Kyoto", Sunday, December 8, 2002, A8) inspired me to document my personal commitment to greenhouse gas savings since 1990.)
My wife and I both resigned from our full time work to pursue new careers from home. We thus saved office space for two employees (estimated 4 tonnes saving). I sold my car (5 tonnes) as I now telecommute (5 tonnes) and my wife drives much less (3 tonnes). We bought a very small motor home instead of a much larger and similarly expensive model in order to minimize emissions (5 tonnes). We sold our older poorly insulated house in Ontario and moved to a newer energy efficient house in Alberta (2 tonnes). (I don't need to account for the fact the Ontario house was heated and powered almost exclusively by non-emitting nuclear and hydro electricity, whereas the Alberta house is heated with natural gas.)
It seems we have already reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by about 24 tonnes annually and are well beyond the request from our federal government that we reduce our emissions by one tonne each. We will seek more.
Perhaps there will be an emission reduction credit for these early reductions under the federal government's Climate Change Plan for Canada. Citizens or organizations less environmentally conscious than we, or compelled to increase their emissions, may wish to buy them. We look forward to offers for our excess 22 tonne per year carbon dioxide reduction - but only after the price goes over $100 per tonne. Thank you very much for your interest.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast