What would you do with a billion dollars every year? Would you give it to your children, considering their future? Maybe you’d invest in your own future. Would you give it to an industry that physicians have found to cause negative impacts on health?
Recent research published by the Citizens Climate Lobby in partnership with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), shows that our provincial government is giving $1 billion in fossil fuel subsidies EVERY year.
Doctors from CAPE travelled across B.C. to learn about fracked gas, an industry that receives some of the largest subsidies, and saw alarming results. Doctors reported “increased incidences of chronic lung disease and cancer. People in this region can’t drink water from their wells or hunt because animals are too diseased. Studies in other jurisdictions have demonstrated increased incidences of stillbirths, birth defects and hospitalization of people who live near fracking wells.”
This is not the future I want for my children paid for by my tax dollars. Clean energy has shown to be more stable than boom and bust cycles of the oil and gas markets. Fossil fuels are destabilizing the climate.
I want a healthy climate and economy. I want clean energy subsidized. A billion dollars a year is a good start.
Marylee Banyard
Nelson