The Winnipeg Free Press editorial, headlined “No easy fixes available for global warming,” reprinted in the Jan. 20th Advocate, was only partly correct. Studies have indeed shown that for consumer behaviour to change significantly, fuel prices (gasoline, natural gas, etc.) would have to rise anywhere from 130 to 600 per cent (clearly a non-starter).
However, those same studies have also shown that if the resulting revenues from any price increases are channelled into energy-efficiency measures, those figures fall dramatically, down to between 3.5 and 6.5 per cent.
Such efficiency measures might include such things as free public transit, increased transit route density and housing retrofit subsidies.
What with the recent concerns about climate change and peak oil prices, we now no longer have any excuses not to try such measures.
Evan Bedford
Red Deer