Green Gatineau Hills

Over the past few years, many of us have changed our lifestyles - some in bigs ways - some in little ways - to limit how much carbon dioxide we dump into the atmosphere. Cutting back on meat consumption, or eating locally grown meat and vegetables, turning down the thermostat, buying energy star appliances, car-pooling, air-drying clothes, planting trees, and the list goes on. We do this because we care about the planet, and we're aware that we need to tread more gently on this great green earth.

At the same time, the challenges the earth faces are more and more clear, and seemingly more and more insurmountable. We're not helped by a federal government that seems dead set against doing anything meaningful about climate change. And yet, the government does seem to support individual initiative.

I thought it would be interesting to share our stories with one another, calculate how much we've cut back our carbon footprint, and take political action by showing the government how each of us is showing initiative, and acting not only individually, but collectively.

Here is what I propose: each of us goes through the carbon calculator called One Less Tonne, (I recognize this is not a perfect calculator, but it was the best I could find) share your results here along with your stories. And once we have a critical mass, we'll send a tally of the results along with our stories to Lawrence Cannon, John Baird, and Stephen Harper. The message will be clear: this is what we've done - what are you willing to do to match our impact?

I have made this blog open - enabling anyone to share their results and their stories. Once I've received 10 responses, we'll send it on. And then another 10, and another 10. So share this blog with others, share your stories, and together, hopefully, we can change the government's policies.