Citola Blog
Reasons To Be Cheerful
It’s difficult to take the existentialist approach to climate change and deforestation – but, frankly, there’s little choice.
Let us explain. The existentialist typically celebrates the idea of traveling hopefully, and takes joy in that, rather than arriving. At Citola, we see the goal of generating a better carbon environment through reforestation and avoided deforestation, and the schemes that comprise such REDD concepts, as a vital and important goal.
But, as we’ve explained in earlier posts, the moves towards that objective on an international and national level are disjointed, uneven, and generally a bit dismal. However, we feel there is quite enough cynicism and pessimism surrounding the world, so the way forward must be to travel hopefully and enjoy the journey, just like a good existentialist, complete with a copy of Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus (Camus imagines Sisyphus smiling as he has to roll the rock back up to the top of the hill for the rest of time).
So it’s with a beam that we notice the Western Climate Initiative. Some western parts of the United State and a few Canadian provinces have clubbed together to organize a cap-and-trade carbon system that, it’s hoped, will drive down emission levels if and when it comes into effect in 2012. California, New Mexico, Quebec, Ontario and British Colombia are major players in the carbon scene, and they’re expressing their determination to get things done. For more detail click here.
But on a federal level, the news is not so great. President Obama’s attempts to push through legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions looks to be fatally wounded. Cynics (not us, of course) might wonder whether his administration might be looking for a way to blame it all on BP…
But we leave you, for now, on an upbeat note: deforestation rates are falling dramatically in Brazil. As regular visitors know, we’re crying out for reforestation, complete with sensible industrial and financial incentives, to make a positive contribution here. We’ll be smiling ear-to-ear when that day dawns…
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