The Gospel of Green

I was watching the Fifth Estate (CBC) this week and was highly impressed with their story on "The Gospel of Green." If you didn't get to see it, check out the link: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2008-2009/the_gospel_of_green/

The story was about Hermann Scheer, a German environmentalist powerhorse. It examined the energy crisis and took a look at the ways that Germany is using renewable, clean energy to power the country. It also took a pretty hard look at how Canada is failing to do the same even when we have an exponentially higher potential for farming clean energy.

Wind power, solar power and biofuel were the methods of production primarily addressed. If you watch or read the whole show through it will probably make your stomach churn: Canada has been turning down the development of solar and wind power in favour of spending on large nuclear projects. Meanwhile, Germany is rolling along, with independent families investing in solar panels that generate enough energy for their own homes plus a little extra to sell back to the grid to power the homes around them. Canadian producers of renewable energy products have been forced overseas because there just isn't a market here yet- or the government is making it difficult to get things off the ground.

Check it out! And then don't forget to turn off your computer before you leave the house....