Sunday, September 27, 2009

Why are Canadians Being Sold Down the River on Climate Change?

Look at it this way. Civilization is almost certainly doomed, finished if the leaders of the world show the same desultory attitude to climate change as Messrs. Harper, Ignatieff and Layton.

The latest number crunching by the United Nations Environment Programme shows that, even if all countries were to fully meet their carbon reduction targets, we're still going to blow right through the magic 2 degrees Celsius mark accepted as the absolute, "never exceed" limit to salvage our civilization. In fact, if our global leaders are miraculously totally successful in achieving their targets, mankind's emissions will still result in about 3.6 degrees Celsius heating by the end of this century.

There is an enormous amount of hope built into these projections. For example, we hope the earth can handle 2 degrees Celsius of heating without reaching 'tipping points' at which the planet begins releasing its own greenhouse gases - CO2 and methane - at life-snuffing volumes. Remember, these tipping points are just that. They're the point at which we capsize, the point where we lose control and are just along for a truly nasty dunking.

Why are Canadians not discussing this? Why are we not getting the information we need from Ottawa? There are so many things we ought to be considering, things we need to begin evaluating. So why is that not happening? Because we have a prime minister who wants to suppress that information and opposition leaders, Liberal and NDP, who are just fine with that.

Steve and Mike are Tar Sands shills, real bitumen boosters. You can't speak of the Tar Sands and the UNEP projections and not come off sounding like a reprobate. When you bring the two into the light of day together, your grand vision of the nation is revealed to be a sham. So what's Jack's excuse? The diminutive, bald-headed plebian knows that discussing this existential threat quickly and inevitably leads to substantial carbon tax initiatives and this court jester doesn't want to be associated with measures that might hit you in the wallet when you take the gas guzzling pick up to the pump.

When it comes to climate change, these three are afraid - not for what's facing our kids and grandkids, but for how this could derail their political fortunes. This is all about them. They're delighted to drone on endlessly about employment insurance and stimulus spending and Afghanistan and anything else they can transform into political fodder - but they won't discuss climate change, what it's going to mean for today's Canadians and tomorrow's and what we can and should be doing about it.

What kind of men are these three? I have one word that fits but I won't use it here.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's quite simple: Nobody cares what happens in one or two hundred years. Hell, nobody really cares what happens in ten years.

Anonymous said...

Hello MOS: I just sent another email to the PM asking what he intends to put forward at the Copenhagen Summit regarding the Canadian environment. I included the information in your second paragraph...I hope that is okay. Would you like a copy? Cheers, A. Morris

Anonymous said...

Oh Shoot! I lost my cut and paste copy. A. Morris

The Mound of Sound said...

Good luck with that, AM. Any success you have will be infinitely more than what I've had in trying to engage these types. All three of these trolls are working very hard to avoid this subject. If they don't raise it they figure it's just not important.

Cheers

LMA said...

To be fair, Ignatieff has attacked Harper's record on fighting climate change, and has also proposed economic restructuring around green jobs. This is a start, but, as you suggest, does his support of the Tar Sands make his vision a sham?

The Mound of Sound said...

LMA, I'm sorry but "economic restructuring around green jobs"? For MI that would be platitude, let me see, 87,096! That's not a plan much less anything remotely resembling a candid discussion of climate change, what it means for our country and what we need to do to adapt to what we can't prevent. I've smelt that before - on my grandfather's dairy farm. It's bullshit. Pure partisan political bullshit. European governments are getting information out, facilitating discussions and planning. Iggles talks bullshit about green jobs and clean bitumen. You need to learn the stench of pure crap when it's wafted in front of your nose.

Anonymous said...

If only you climate catastrophists hadn't TOTALLY blown your credibility by getting found out through those hacked University e-mails ("how do we conceal this data that doesn't fit our theory?"), the suppression of opposing theories, the thoroughly 'adjusted' NOAA temperature charts, and the fact that bloated Mr Al Gore and BO Obama stand to make Millions on CAP AND TAX and so are anything but impartial. (And THEY still bat around the world on big private jets, don't they? They still have HUGE private houses, don't they?) How come Al didn't show up at Copenhagen, huh? Afraid to face the music over the e-mails I guess. But all those US Senators and Congresscritters sure batted in on their private jets, didn't they? Well, I do LOVE the environment (grew up on a commune farm), but I sure as hell don't trust you morons. I've watched the SatNav photos of the Larsen Ice Shelf shrink, but I've also watched it GROW on the western side, and the shipping reports show more ice than ever. I saw photos of those Australian 'climate researchers' as they tore down the little island tree and THEN tried to say it was washed away by sea leval rising. Oh, and I did not fail to notice that while in previous years a lack of snow was 'due to global warming,' this year's heavy snow worldwide was 'due to global warming' too. Simply put, no one believes you anymore. Preach to yourselves, not to me or mine - you lie, sir!

The Mound of Sound said...

Anon, you're profoundly ignorant. You're entitled to your opinion but you're not entitled to your own facts. "Those hacked university e-mails" What do you know about that? Have you followed either of the enquiries into that, the investigations that scrutinized those e-mails? If you had you wouldn't be spouting this rank ignorance. STFU and use your time productively to read a bit although I suspect you're content with your current narrative, even if it is drivel. You're a fool.