Adaptation Time

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change comes with a blunt warning - significant climate change is now unavoidable and we have to develop strategies to adapt to the consequences. From CanWest News Service:

United Nations' science advisers have boiled down their landmark climate report to one simple message -- prepare for a hotter world while slashing greenhouse gas emissions.

Government delegates will comb through the synthesis report line-by-line next week in Valencia, Spain, before approving and releasing the final text next Saturday.

The report is said to understate the danger since alarming new evidence missed the deadline for inclusion. It does not, for example, include data showing global emissions are now climbing faster than ever as China and India power their economic booms with fossil fuels. And there is no mention of this summer's Arctic ice retreat, described as "astounding" by scientists and government officials who fear the Arctic may be hitting a "tipping point."

"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level," it says.

...since much of the change is unstoppable, the report says countries also need to adapt: "Many impacts can be avoided, reduced or delayed by mitigation, but adaptation is also necessary."

So there it is, even if understated. It's very much a two-part challenge: slash GHG emissions and develop strategies to adapt to the warming that's coming no matter what we do. Harper, of course, is doing everything in his power to duck the first part, slashing emissions, with his endorsement of "intensity-based" targets, another way of saying increasing GHG emissions.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the Harper government is in no rush to deal with the second aspect - adaptation. Why not? It's what he and his tar patch buddies fear most - having the public informed of what's coming, what that's going to mean and what's going to be necessary to "adapt" to it. Why the peasants might actually rise up and demand tough action on slashing greenhouse gas emissions and then where would the tar sands be just when Cheney/Bush and all of America's SUV jockeys want it most?

If Dion is looking for a way to take control of this fundamental issue again, the IPCC report is a perfect opportunity. The more the public knows, the worse it is for Harper. This one's a gift, Dion's for the simple taking.