Make that Dividend Pay!

I remember almost everything about the morning of February 19, 2008: what I wore, what I had for breakfast, the weather, how many minutes it took me to walk from my hotel to where I was going which, strangely, was not a wedding, funeral or the birth of my child but rather the 2008 budget lock up and a much-anticipated announcement of the first significant carbon tax to be introduced in any North American jurisdiction.

For me, the journey to that budget lock-up spanned over six long years. In January 2002, I agreed to become executive director of the Wilderness Committee, a decision akin to agreeing to captain a ship on the deep ocean during a category five hurricane. The BC Liberals, elected to government May 2001, had dismantled the Environment Ministry and slashed staffing and funding for environmental programs at an unprecedented level. Six months later, they were mid-stream on over-turning dozens of progressive policies ranging from moratoriums on salmon farming and grizzly hunting to a proposal to privatize public forest lands and axing protected areas hard-won by local communities.

Although this onslaught was subsequently slowed, it was only because many tens of thousands of people spoke out again and again on any number of issues. Even then, all this human energy was only able to hold the line on environmental protections at a time when our environment, and especially our atmosphere, desperately needed a quantum policy leap forward.

Thus the idea that the government would put their money where their mouth was on global warming was somewhat stunning.

Not that we didn't have advance notice -- a loose coalition of environmental groups worked hard to secure the carbon tax and other mechanisms to reduce climate-changing emissions. But even at 9:29 a.m. on budget day we were understandably nervous that the government's assurances to us over the past year were just so much more lip service to rising public concern about the climate.

Then the budget documents were set on our desks and there was the one billion dollars for the climate we'd asked for and most importantly, a carbon tax.

What would Gandalf do?

Of course there were other things in there that we didn't ask for. For example, $100 cheques handed out to every man, woman and child in B.C. totalling $440 million in government spending. While most of our bank accounts will never see such riches, it's not a huge stretch to see that such a staggering sum mobilized to support emission–reducing infrastructure could do a lot more to fight climate change than each of our $100 cheques working alone.

I could have chosen to get angry about it -- indeed I'm pretty sure I was angry -- but everyone has words to live by and being a member of Generation Y one of my favourite axioms comes from Lord of the Rings. To paraphrase Gandalf, you cannot help the times you live in, only what you choose to do in those times.

So I chose to work to get that $440 million back into communities to support action on climate change. Along with The Tyee, David Suzuki Foundation, Pembina Institute and Voters Taking Action on Climate Change we dreamed up the Green Your Campbell Cash website.

Go for it

Seeing the ingenuity of volunteer-driven efforts listed on the site is inspiring. The many school-related projects and those supporting low-income communities are particularly motivating to me. The 10 hottest years on human record have all occurred since most high school students were born. They could choose to say that is unfair, or they could choose to take action. Similarly, people struggling with poverty are much more likely to be affected by climate change than those of us living in the middle class. Again, they could say that it's unfair, or they can organize support for solar roofs, community gardens and the many other projects you'll find on the site.

My daughter and I received our "climate dividend" cheques the other day and went to The Tyee to choose projects to support. Predictably, we didn't agree on where to send our $100 but both projects will benefit and most importantly, our community will be a more climate-friendly place as a result.

I hope that you will choose to share the site with your friends and family and by doing so make an investment in your community's healthy future.

Visit the website to post a project, or learn more about the more than 60 now there, and vote for your favourites.