Britain's climate secretary, Chris Huhne, will deliver a blunt message in his next meeting with his country's defence experts - climate change could reverse the advances in democracy and prosperity we've achieved since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Huhne contends that the ravages of global warming could usher in a return to a Hobbesian world in which life is "nasty, brutish and short." And, no, he means something even worse than Harperland Canada.
Huhne believes the UK and other countries must act urgently to prepare for the threat. "We cannot be 100% sure that our enemies will attack our country, but we do not hesitate to prepare for the eventuality," he plans to say. "The same principle applies to climate change, which a report published by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has identified as one of the four critical issues that will affect everyone on the planet over the next 30 years."
His comparison of climate change and terrorism echoes Sir David King, the former chief scientific adviser to the government who warned in 2004 that global warning posed "a bigger threat than terrorism". The warning so incensed the then US president George W Bush that he phoned Tony Blair to ask him to gag the scientist.
Huhne argues that it is clearly in the UK's national interest to cut carbon dioxide emissions sharply, and persuade other nations to join in the effort.
[British] prime minister, David Cameron, ...was embarrassed earlier in the week by an open revolt over climate issues staged by his members of the European parliament. MEPs were voting on whether to adopt more ambitious emissions reduction targets that would raise the goal from a 20% cut in carbon by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, to a tougher 30% cut.Despite Downing St intervention, more than two-thirds of Tory MEPs rebelled against the party line, to support the tougher target.
And what, then, are we to expect from the Petro-Pols of Parliament Hill, the Tar Heels that infest both sides of the aisle in the House of Commons? After all they've got their very own report from Canada's DND that essentially echoes the earlier climate change warnings of the British MOD and the Pentagon.
From what I'm seeing, whether they're Conservative, Liberal or NDP, they're just too greasy to stand up for Canada and the Canadian people.
So, how do we act urgently to prepare for the threat of resource wars? Stockpile fossil fuels, food, and water? I'm getting a sinking feeling that we will forget about mitigating climate change in the race to save our own skins.
ReplyDeleteWhat you've asked, LMA, is beyond the scope of this comment format. In the broadest context what we must do is what the Brits have already done - begin. We need to begin getting necessary information out to the public and to decision makers at local and regional levels. We must educate the public if we're not to remain an American-clone, international pariah. We also need an educated public to muster support for the adaptation measures we require for our exclusive benefit.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we'll choose inaction in order to "save our own skins." I think our motivation will be much more mercenary than that.
This question has been on my mind for months. I'm becoming fatigued with it. It's not as though we have a Liberal and NDP opposition waiting to turn the Harper government's neglect around 180-degrees.
I really had to overcome my instincts in order to turn out at the polls for the last election. I'm not sure I'll bother again. The hardcore NDP and LPC supporters I find on these blogs amply reflect their respective parties' indifference.
It is odd isn't it? Canadians seem to be living in a bubble these days, unwilling/unable to take part in the debate about climate change that is raging in the U.S. and the U.K. Your blog is a bright spot in a rather barren landscape. I do notice, however, increasing interest in climate change in the local online newspaper and am trying to spread the word. You never know, if the Opposition does its' job, four years of Harper may be just what this country needs to jolt it out of its' complacency.
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