Mo money, mo carbon

The why’s of rising gasoline prices have never concerned Canadians as much as their practical consequences — higher prices at the pumps and less money to be spent on life’s essentials. But while we all have to deal with the consequences of more expensive fuel, the distribution of those consequences isn’t necessarily equal.

As reported by the Victoria Times Colonist, a report by B.C.’s provincial government found 18 per cent of the province’s residents are living in “energy poverty.” With 17 per cent of their income diverted to energy costs, these low-income Canadians stand to be harmed disproportionately by increasing fuel prices.

But if the provincial government’s findings seem to indicate that lower-income Canadians are liable to trim their energy use in light of soaring costs, another report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) cautions that even low income Canadians have carbon footprints many times as large as those found in developing nations. Just as a select percentage of Canadians are being affected by rising fuel costs, though, another segment is using more than their fare share.

In that same report, the CCPA revealed that the richest 10 per cent of Canadians have carbon footprints a full 66 per cent higher than average Canadians (12.4 hectares per capita). With the lowest 60 per cent below the Canadian average of 7.5 hectares per capita, the highest 10 per cent enlarge their footprint in mobility, goods and services (55 per cent of their footprint), compared with lower-income Canadians’ emphasis on necessities like food and housing (70 per cent).

The two reports show that while Canadians may be unified in their distaste for paying more for a commodity we want to buy, the impact of those prices and the ways we use our increasingly expensive fuel are anything but universal.