Symbols Can Go A Long Way

I was watching a program on which an environmentalist proposed that we have PEI running exclusively on wind-power by 2015.

Now, PEI only has a population of 135 000, so this measure wouldn’t really represent a major energy economy, but for some reason, it spoke to me. I really liked the idea of a Canadian province becoming self sufficient in energy, I liked the idea of a Canadian province showing some leadership and proving to the world that a full energy conversion was indeed possible.

Symbols matter in life. We’ve all seen the tremendous power and courage that they can extract from people. I am convinced that when fighting climate change, we also need symbols. I’m not saying that we should construct a billion dollar monument to climate change in Ottawa (though I would far rather see a billion dollars being spent on a monument than on tanks, as is currently the case), but we should really push for small and achievable projects with great symbolic value, like making PEI energy sufficient.

Those projects won’t get us to our Kyoto targets, but they’ll create additional public awareness, backing and pride. And once we have the public supporting the fight against global warming and taking pride the role our country plays, we’ll meet our targets.