GuelphToday received the following letter from David Douglas regarding environmental targets and progress:
In response to your article "City must act on climate change targets now, says coalition of environmental groups", most people should find the demand that City Council adopt and make public ongoing interim targets on our progress toward a de-carbonized urban community, common sense. It's in everyone's interest.
Having a target for the City and for the community as a whole set for 2050 is acceptable in itself, but provides nobody with either a roadmap to get from here to there, or a credible and practical set of benchmarks to gauge our progress.
Households operate with interim targets on mortgage payments, on children's educational progress, on home repairs, and so on. Businesses survive on being able to determine how well they are doing, what needs to be changed along the route, and so on.
Our City Council have been entrusted with much that relates to our welfare, and that of our children. And they have been entrusted with our scarce resources, such as taxes. But also trust.
So, common sense for the common good would suggest that we take stock of our progress along the challenging road to a de-carbonized community. Bi-annual or similar "report cards" on our progress, on all fronts, makes sense for all of us to gauge our progress, make adjustments and other course corrections, and ensure that we all survive the greatest existential threat in our times, climate change.
Credible, transparent, regular progress reports is a constructive proposal. Hardly a threat or an unnecessary burden to account for our progress toward the common good; in this case the survival of the commons.
- David J.A. Douglas, community volunteer
