How much will not addressing climate change cost?

There have been a few news stories covering the climate change conference in Montreal, coincidentally kicking off at about the same time as the Canadian federal election. A few, but not nearly enough.

Here’s one from today, but I encourage everyone to scour the papers and read more.

Climate change may be foremost on the minds of the delegates in Montreal, but is barely even registering as an election issue in polls across the country.

This works to the advantage of the Liberals and Conservatives. The Liberals have a dismal track record that would bury them if climate change were a deciding factor, and the Conservatives seem to be taking their cue from south of the border with their refusal to admit it’s happening, a refusal to admit it’s caused by human activity, and a dismissal of the idea that we should do anything as they believe it will harm the economy. Even the NDP, who has a platform addressing climate change also supports certain policies that will counter their green efforts.

Why do I think this matters? Besides being a Green Party candidate, you mean? Let me tell you.

It matters because this is not some elusive future crisis. It is us costing money NOW!!!

As an engineer, I am exposed to a variety of projects in the area of infrastructure planning and construction. Infrastructure is all that stuff that just works, and the only time you notice it is when it doesn’t. Water, sewer and power services are prime examples. You also might notice it at tax time since taxes pay for it all.

The other day we were talking about storm sewers. Exciting stuff as you can imagine, but bear with me.

When storm sewers are designed, you have to take into account the volume of water that falls during a “storm event”, and the terms used are along the lines of a 2 year storm event, a 10 year storm event, a 100 year storm event, etc. meaning the worst storm that will statistically occur over 2, 10 or 100 years. Pretty boring, I know, but there are a whole bunch of really good people out there that figure these things out.

The important point is that engineers are now recognizing that storms are getting worse. A lot of people are talking about changing the models since we are now seeing 100 year storm events every couple of years. This is putting a strain on our infrastructure and is the reason for increased flooding in urban areas. And when the modelling changes, this means that storm sewers have to be increased which costs more money.

TAX money. YOUR money.

For the Green Party, this is the same as the health vs health care issue. We want to treat causes instead of just treating symptoms. In the end, this approach will cost far less of your money.

Vote for the future. Vote Green.