A former professor is speaking out in favor of Canada's controversial carbon pricing scheme, which aims to reduce planet-warming pollution by putting a tax on dirty fuels.
Trevor Hancock, a retired professor and senior scholar at the University of Victoria's School of Public Health and Social Policy, made the case for carbon pricing in an opinion article in the Times Colonist. The policy, first implemented in 2019, increases the cost of dirty fuels like gasoline in an attempt to encourage consumers and industry to invest in greener technologies.
Dirty fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas are the source of more than 75% of all planet-warming pollution, according to the United Nations. As such, climate scientists are widely pushing for a reduction in our dependence on such energy sources.
And according to the Canadian Climate Institute, carbon pricing works. It claims that between 2024 and 2030, industrial carbon pricing will do more than any other policy to cut the country's planet-warming pollution.
To support his argument, Hancock lists the many health dangers linked to rising global temperatures, including an increase in frequency and severity of dangerous weather events, which will lead to deaths, injuries and illness; and an uptick in infectious diseases.
He also brings his point closer to home, pointing out that a 2021 Health Canada report found the country suffered 15,300 premature deaths and 8,100 emergency room visits due to air pollution in 2016. Most of these were tied to the burning of dirty fuel sources.
"So carbon pricing is really a health measure," Hancock states. "Its stated purpose is to encourage a reduction in the use of fossil fuels by making them more expensive, thus encouraging more efficient use and a switch to alternatives."
Canada's carbon-pricing scheme is just one of many methods governments across the globe are employing to try to cut down on their pollution. For instance, Wales is banning most new roadway projects to cut down on carbon pollution. Plus, a New York law will require all Lyfts and Ubers to be EVs by 2030.
You can make a difference by changing the way you get around — try riding your bike more, taking public transit, or making your next car an EV.
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