So our premier has signed up with the Kyoto Accord to fight air pollution, some aren’t as happy. To them I say “so what?” Did you really expect the industry that makes it’s money off of pollution to really sit back and rejoice at this? No, of course not. They say that the technology is “unavailable”. Bullshit I say. Yes, dear automakers, you’ll have to speed up production and maybe even start to act as if the hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles (which have been around in one form or another for ages, though not in the grasp of the consumer until recently (hmm…. I wonder why?)) are actual things you can sell. I wonder if maybe the oil industry and the auto-makers are in some sort of agreement, a “cartel” of sorts?
Could getting 80mpg in a hybrid vehicle be a detterant to those who would prefer that we get 20mpg in the latest and greatest SUVs? I saw something on TV a bit ago that said they were making huge progress with SUV fuel economy and you could expect to see an efficiency increase of 1.5mpg in the coming years.
These are the people that say that the economy will suffer. Again, I say “too bloody bad”. Big businesses will report losses, the stock market will crash, boo-friggin’-hoo. This is about (or at least should be about) clean air. Not having to wear a respirator just to go outside. Kids with asthma not being told to stay inside on particularily smoggy days. Is being able to breath not as important as making money, or corporate profits? I guess not. Of course, these are the same people that find it more economically sensible to pay the tax for dumping toxic waste than to not dump it. The same people who felt that it made more economic sense not to tell people that their tires were defective but to pay out the life insurance and lawsuites. Makes sense to me. Lets let some people die because it’s cheaper to pay their families off than recall a bunch of tires.
So anyway, my point to the people who say that the Kyoto accord will be bad for business, or that instead of spending money on saving the environment, we can educate the world, well, what good is education or health care if the air isn’t fit to breath. I’d personally have no problem taking a little economic hardship if it meant that my children, and their childrens children have the same green grass and blue sky that I, my father, and my grandfathers enjoyed.