The Silver Bullet
David Buckland + Tom Rand
Silver, 2013
Roloff Beny Gallery, ROM Level 4
The Silver Bullet by David Buckland and Tom Rand.
According to European folklore, only a silver bullet can kill the un-natural monsters that threaten to devour us all.
David Buckland and Tom Rand’s bullet is cast in pure silver and has a material value of about $180. In 2007, the Canadian National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy stated that Canada needs to put a price on carbon emissions of $180+ per tonne, over time, a price that would be a real game changer in controlling climate change successfully.*
“We need to stop using our atmosphere as an open sewer. When dealing with other waste treatment issues we are prepared to pay the price of treatment. The price on CO2 emissions needs to be high because the cost of climate change is immeasurable.” – David Buckland
* Getting to 2050: Canada’s Transition to a Low-emission Future, The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) report, 2007.
David Buckland
David Buckland is an artist, filmmaker, writer, and curator. His work is included in major permanent collections in London, Paris, and New York. He produced the films, Art from the Arctic, 2006 for the BBC and Burning Ice for Sundance, 2010. In 2001, David created and now directs the international Cape Farewell project.
Tom Rand
Tom Rand is a green entrepreneur, investor, advisor, public speaker, and author. His ambition is to help bring clean technology to life. Tom is the Managing Director of the privately-backed MaRS Cleantech Fund I L.P., a Senior Advisor at the MaRS Discovery District; a co-developer of Planet Traveler, the “greenest hotel in North America”; and the author of Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit: 10 Clean Technologies to Save Our World.
A Price on Carbon
Tom Rand
Author of Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit.
Carbon pricing only works if it’s high enough to reduce demand for fossil fuels. Otherwise, it’s just a higher price for business as usual. But it doesn’t have to cost taxpayers a dime! Every penny collected in CO2 pricing can be returned to taxpayers by lower income or sales tax. People who choose to live a high carbon lifestyle get poorer, but those who don’t get richer. The best part is that a price on carbon effects every transaction in a market economy – from people choosing new shoes, to banks financing power plants – instantly. It’s the single most effective weapon in a market economy. Trying to tackle climate change without a price on carbon is like playing hockey without a stick. Hopeless.
