Into the Breach
This is the ad that pushes the biggest load of BS that I have seen for many days. Not that Earth Day isn't important for outlining the need to conserve the Earth's resources. Where the BS comes in is the great PR campaign by local municipalities to push the idea that we should all switch our lights off to bring attention to the matter. Talk about "bread and circuses" this push by our local leaders is an exercise in hypocricy and designed to make them look good whilst doing not much.What these guys should be doing is to not put up hydro rates to maintain their revenue in the declining consumptive environment. What they should be doing is to establish teams of reno-conservation tradesmen and then back up those teams with grants to fix up our houses. We have been bombarded with exhortations for years now from all kinds of agencies to reduce our consumption and fix up our old and leaky houses, yet people still ignore those pleadings - Why?
Probably because they don't have the money to take advantage of the offers to renovate. They are reeling under the increases that utilities have demanded. If governments want us to reduce, let them help pay for it. Slick PR campaigns are just that - spin to make politicians feel good. If they want to good things mandate energy audits, enter every house and take stock. Make the bad homeowners fix up their houses and have the utilities pay for it. Local utilities should not be penalised by the market place for declining revenues brought on by reduced consumption. The Province saves money by not having to expand the hydro production and transmission systems, they should compensate local utilities from those savings.
How about working on the real problems instead of engaging in silly games that only illustrate the stupid competition between local municipalities!
3 comments:
You have made several points and I will only comment on a couple of them.
First: the Province passed legislation last week that requires a home energy audit be performed whenever a house is sold. What they haven't done is require that the persons conducting the audits have any professional qualifications. I predict a surge in the employment category of instant home energy audit inspectors!
I see this as the kind of useless, feel-good gimmick decried by Mr. Burd in his post. Achieves absolutely nothing in terms of assisting people to upgrade their homes, it just looks like they're doing something.
I feel the same way about the earth hour stuff, it reminds me of the campaign being promoted by George Stromboloupolous on the Hour and embraced by the Weather Network. That one, called a Simple Act of Green (or something like that) involves doing something really easy and painless, like throwing your pop can in a recycling bin, and then alerting the campaign organizers, who are now touting their alleged succcess because they have registered a million "acts of green".
The problem, again, is that it achieves nothing but makes people feel good, just like turning off the lights for an hour.
Saving our planet just isn't going to be that easy.
DJO
I agree DJO, but there's also nothing wrong with spreading awareness, and for every gimmick people take part in — at no cost, which is a bonus — it brings the issue to the forefront.
I watch The Hour daily and Strombo mentioned it every day for months and yes, they were simple 'act of green', but I still looked at the list and strive to hit some targets daily. And there were much more in-depth ones than recycling a pop can too (geothermal heating, solar panels, etc.).
Every little bit helps, no? Even when they're gag-inducing.
Trouble is, many of the less enlightened folks think they have done their bit with their simple gesture and can forget about it now. Kind of like tossing a can of soup into the food bank bin at the grocery store and thinking you've done your part to end poverty.
The simple gesture needs to be accompanied by a genuine understanding of the problem, and followed by action to bring change. Writing letters to our elected officals on the issues we care about would be a terrific way for most of us to start.
DJO
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