At a recent Sustainability Speakers Series event in Saskatoon, a local politician and environmentalist spoke about ways Saskatchewan could on the path to sustainability, as he believes the path is nowhere in sight.

Peter Prebble says the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased since 1960 at a rate of 2.5 parts per million per year.

“Similarly, you see an increase in nitrous oxide…. The rise is steady every year. It keeps increasing. Partly as a result of our use of nitrogen fertilizers. Partly from things like coal-fired power plants.”

Prebble says the provincial government has implemented several measures that are actively against federal efforts to reach net zero carbon emissions. He cites their goal to expand the oil industry by 25 per cent and double the forest harvest by 2030 as examples, as well as the Saskatchewan First Act.

“(The government needs to be) repealing the Saskatchewan First Act, which is a piece of legislature that passed in the last year, and its primary purpose is to serve as an obstacle to federal climate policy being implemented in the province of Saskatchewan. That’s the reason it was passed.”

To begin solving the problem, Prebble suggests implementing provincial grants for energy efficient house construction, cancelling plans for small nuclear reactors in the province, maintaining the federal carbon tax, and focusing on hydro, wind, and solar power.

Prebble commends the federal government for implementing the carbon tax, as it takes courage for a government to do so.

“I think virtually all of us in this room want to see the carbon tax remain in place as a public policy. Pretty well every other political party in the house of commons, with the exception of the Greens, has abandoned it at this point.”