Copenhagen blog: Are cigarettes carbon neutral?
- December 8, 2009 12:59 PM |
- By Your Voice
Submitted by Daniel T'Seleie
What's the carbon footprint of a cigarette? Yes, I smoke. I know I shouldn't because my mother routinely tells me so. But I like to think smoking is carbon neutral, so I'm only hurting myself (and my poor mother).
One thing I like about Copenhagen is that, unlike Yellowknife, I can buy unfiltered cigarettes and all the public garbage cans are outfitted with ashtrays. The only Canadian city I've recently visited with both these fine qualities is Calgary, which seems strange to me considering it's the stronghold of the tar sands beast that is preventing Canada from meeting our Kyoto commitments.
I like to think our dependence on fossil fuels is similar to a chemical dependency like smoking or drinking. Canadians want to help the environment, we want to stop climate change, but we need encouragement and support. We're like an alcoholic who wants to dry out but can't put down the bottle. We need a friend to pour the last drops in the sink and bring us to treatment. That friend should be the government.
The Danish government has embraced this philosophy. They actively encourage citizens to lower their emissions through investments in renewable energy, clever urban planning and carbon pricing. Gas here costs around two dollars a litre, but the tax revenues are reinvested into social programs and that raise the quality of life and lower costs in other areas. Copenhagen has an excellent public transit system, and is so bike friendly the cyclists almost outnumber the motorists. (I haven't seen one obese Dane yet).
Instead of investing public money into the tar sands, Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to make investments that will help Canadians lower their greenhouse gas emissions. So come on, Stephen, I'm ready to quit, take my bottle and bring on the tough love.
Oh, and if anyone finds out what the carbon footprint of a cigarette is please let me know. Maybe I can quit that too.
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Comments (7)
You know what, you're right. Its really time to make a change. I don't buy that pollution is the biggest reason our climate is warming. I do know that pollution is nasty, I don't like walking outside on a summer day (one of the very few we get in Edmonton) and looking at our beautiful river valley, and a topping of brown smog.
It will be tough, and not just for us. I want Canada to start setting and hitting some hard goals. But I also want Canada to play hardball with developing countries. Set your own targets to limit your carbon increases, or we stop helping out. While we are at it lets start tackling some bigger issues. Set population growth limits, especially in developing countries as most developed countries have that issue in check.
I am ready and willing to make some big changes in my way of life, some big financial expenditures to make me greener. But I don't want to do that, just to have someone in a developing country destroy that gesture by getting dirtier.
For pollution deals to really work I think there needs to be a wider picture. Climate change/Pollution isn't about how much carbon our cars pump out. Its about Too much pollution, to many people, dumping in rivers, cutting down trees etc.
This planet is one big globe, all tied together. We have to change everything in order for everything to change. Too bad the people at the table in Denmark are some of the slimiest, most dishonest and corrupt people on our planet, they call themselves politicians.
And the Conservative government cancelled the one tonne challenge. Why?
Jeff:
C02 is not pollution anymore than Dihydrogen monoxide is, even though DHMO is a far greater driver of the greenouse gas effect than C02 is.
By the way, DHMO is H20. Water.
If the EPA can call a naturally occurring substance like C02 a pollutant, can water be far behind?
I wish people would stop confusing carbon dioxide with pollution. CO2 is essential for all plant life on our planet, and plants produce oxygen.
Co2 is just .038 percent of the total atmosphere.
If you really want to target pollution in Canada, go after the abominable Alberta Tar Sands project.
Copenhagen is really about carbon credits - and Russia is very concerned they will lose their credits in 2012 if Copenhagen is signed.
We use so much carbon because it is too cold to live most of the year. (You may have noticed that most animals go south or sleep for large parts of our year.) I know that I could go all medieval and live in a cold dark place but I really don't want to. As an old hippie I know how to live without stuff you can't make yourself. I don't like it and don't do it but I know how.
Your comment about government and their role in protecting us from ourselves....
(I am also a smoker.)
Do you realize that what you are saying is exactly what the 20th century struggled with?
The State as Parent. Perhaps you are familiar with the term Paternalism. Or other ones like; Imperialism, Communism, Fascism. Everybody from my Uncle Joe (a real person)to P.E.T. fought against this.
Do you really want an overlord? - again?
(My whole family is here because they escaped that crap. 100 years ago.)
It is probably true that we are moving into a period of Totalitarianism. We might even need to as far as the climate goes.
But are you willing to stay home forever? How much did it cost, not $, to get you to Denmark? How much does it cost, and on what scales, that we can even communicate this way? I don't know. The golden age is over.
Get used to living in the dark because if you give the government the power you are suggesting that is what you will have. Develop a taste for Rat meat as well.
Of course you might be one of the elite. Then you will get to eat whatever you want.
Exactly what put us here.
And quit smoking. It makes you a Corporate shill.
What's up with the people who think that climate change is a big scheme for a world government? Stop watching Alex Jones people, he's the guy who's being controlled by the "overlords".
I'm also sick of hearing people talk about CO2 "just being a natural substance". Anybody with half a brain knows that many different types of pollution can be called a "natural substance", it become pollution when it's concentrated in large amounts.
Feces and other waste products are a natural substance; put a bunch of those natural substances together in a giant pit and it becomes pollution. Pull your heads out of your rears people.
"strong hold of the tar sands beast"
Ha ha ha .
You're so drmatic in your enviro-cultism that you are a perfect fit for the cbc .
To some little people the agw is a fraud while the tar sands are a great employer to make a decent living in a once freer country , but , hey , call us deniers .