What might daily life be like for our grandchildren when they reach retirement age? We’ve all heard plenty of doom and gloom tales about the future. But there is another path.

Life could be good for our descendants. By about 2050 or so, they could be meeting almost all of their energy needs from wind, water, sun, and the warmth of the earth. Their efficient and comfortable homes could double as clean-energy power plants. “Pain at the pump”could be a distant memory, as this next generation zips around town in clean and quiet electric vehicles. Jobs and opportunities? Abundant. Health and overall quality of life? Unbeatable.

Tides Canada, a national charitable foundation based in Vancouver, paints this bright picture in a new discussion paper called A New Energy Vision for Canada. In the paper, the Vancouver-based charitable foundation also outlines a number of key moves that—if made today—might well make that future a reality.

In the coming weeks, Tides Canada will have an opportunity to share its vision and proposed path with Canada’s energy leaders. The meeting could prove a watershed moment; it could potentially help set Canada on a path to a prosperous future largely free of pollution and the nightmares of oil spills and climate change. It could, potentially, help sow the seeds of our nation as a clean-energy superpower.

In advance of this key upcoming meeting, the foundation is building support for The New Energy Vision for Canada by seeking endorsements of the paper from companies, organizations, and institutions. CARP recently joined the growing list of groups that have formally signed on to the document. We think it’s a smart, achievable vision, and one well worth supporting.

The document is available for review, at http://www.tidescanada.org/energy/newenergy

Keywords: energy