Global Warming/Climate Change

[lagatta]

Yes, that is exactly what Kent means. Barrelling ahead with the criminal ecocidal policies while attempting, or pretending, to "mitigate" negative impacts of climate change. Unlike Maxime Bernier, Kent is too intelligent and well-informed to be a denier.

And saying a strong fuck you to the rest of the world and activists and climate change victims at home...

[greenvie]

Oh horse hockey!  I esp. love this quote from Kent:

He explained that there was "no quick fix for climate change," in the lead up to the next international climate-summit beginning in late November in Durban, South Africa."Addressing it is a highly consultative process, and one that requires a careful balancing and rebalancing of economic and environmental considerations domestically and globally," Kent said. "It also requires focus, consistency and determination."

What a lying, two-faced, incompetent twit! As I went to your canada.com link, Holly, I had another tab opened to an article I was reading in today's Guardian, titled "World headed for irreversible Climate Change in five years, IEA warns". http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/09/fossil-fuel-infrastructure-climate-change

[Toedancer]

I LOVE your avatar greenvie!


Kent is using the language that's in the released (World Resources Institute) report (mid-Oct.) It is a pdf.
http://pdf.wri.org/world_resources_report_2010-2011.pdf


All the gobs are using that language because the name of the game is adapting to climate change, which is going to cost a huge fortune.

"Climate change is not solely an environmental issue," Olav Kjorven, director of the Bureau for Development Policy at UNDP, told a media teleconference Tuesday. [/size]"Governments must start now to incorporate climate risks into plans and policies across all sectors, including urban development, coastal planning, agriculture, water and forestry management, and electricity production," he said.

Since the financial system is a total FAIL I'm going to assume some very constructive ideas are going to pop up.

[lagatta]

Beautiful flowers, greenvie, and welcome to Bread & Roses!

Thanks for reminding us of that Guardian article. I saw it earlier today but was busy working, so couldn't read it then. Oh - see that it is short - I was expecting a big dossier somehow. Scary stuff.

[Holly Stick]

Well yes, we already have some global warming and will have more based on what GHGs we have already emitted, so we do need to adapt to that.


There is also the question of whether we can cut GHG emissions enough now to avoid a higher rate of global warming in the future and that is why we need governments to act now.

[greenvie]

Thanks for all the welcomes.      I just pop up now & then, seems more often these days. Flowers are from my past few obsessive years at flickr, not so much this year. http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenhem/  NDG has a lot of trees & flowers, but not much else to photograph. The street art is totally non-creative. I blame education these days.

Lagatta, that Guardian article was an interview with an economist (!!wtf) at the International Energy Agency (IEA) apparently. The IEA site charges $ for their publications, with discounts for low & lower middle income peeps (so specific!). I do respect most of the the Guardian's  global warming stuff, though do trust, enjoy and find the Worldwatch Institute more solution driven than apocalyptic.
 http://www.worldwatch.org/research
http://www.iea.org/w/bookshop/b.aspx?new=10

Worldwatch has a magazine, an annual State of The World Report and Vital Signs booklets periodically. I used to get the zine and a few of the annuals, but can't afford them any more. They were on to GW pretty fast long ago. There are now many excellent free articles available at their site.
http://www.worldwatch.org/free-research

I also love Pembina Institute:

Matt Horne, director of the Pembina Institute's climate change program, made the following statement in response to Environment Minister Peter Kent's speech to the Toronto Economic Club today:

"Minister Kent's speech is more notable for its glaring omissions and misrepresentative statements about Canada's performance than for the $30 million per year promised for domestic climate change adaptation. The government's positioning shows a continued 'head in the sand' mentality that falls desperately short of the expectations of Canadians and the international community...

http://www.pembina.org/media-release/2281

ETA (can't resist this, I'm fuming!:

"Minister Kent's speech, and its lack of substance, stands in stark contrast to yesterday's actions in Australia. A country of similar population and economy, Australia's government passed a carbon tax that, in addition to sending a strong price signal to move away from dirty energy sources, will provide $10 billion over five years for citizens and businesses to make the shift to cleaner options.

They have a lot of free publications (pdf) under their Media Room tab. http://www.pembina.org/

[sparqui]

Great links, Greenvie. And welcome aboard! 

[Antonia]

Did you say NDG, Greenvie?

[greenvie]

Present and correct. The western part, near Monkland.

Oh, and hi sparqui!   

[Holly Stick]

Guardian says the Harper cuts to Environment Canad are $200 million, so I would say that $150 million over 5 years is not an adequate replacement.  They talk about other cuts, to Dept of Fisheries and Oceans, and:

...That was then. Now, under the rubric of reducing Canada's modest budget deficit, the Harper government has targeted programmes that inform Canadians about the state of the environment. Monitoring of heavy metals and toxic contaminants is another programme that will be crippled. These are programmes that have a direct impact on the health and welfare of Canadians, said Duck...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/09/canada-cuts-environment-spending

[greenvie]

It's noteworthy, to me anyway, that The Guardian even did that page about Harper. It's not even under world news, but right there in the Guardian Environment Network. Mind, they don't really give Canada a general "section", not even under US, like the Beeb does. Fine by me. Loving the combative-mode photo of King Harper there!  Says a lot, doesn't it? Yay, it's open for comments! 

Interesting tone in the article too. Not laden with the sometimes fearful truth-telling about eco-issues I often detect in Canadian media. Too close the corps bosses here, in the dominant media.

I didn't know about this 2009 promise:

Harper promised to end these government subsidies [to oil] in 2009. The International Monetary Fund, the International Energy Agency, the United Nations and many others have called for an end to such subsidies to the world's most profitable industry..."Canada can't afford to pay scientists but we can line the pockets of big oil? That is totally backwards",  McKinnon said.

Hannah McKinnon is from http://climateactionnetwork.ca/, which stopped getting fed funding after you-know-what.


I'm so happy this is coming to light internationally. Embarrass them!

[Antonia]

I should spread all this via Twitter and Facebook. Tally ho.

[sparqui]

Totally agree! These criminals in power in Canada deserve to be embarrassed on the international stage. Just wished more Canadians would take notice.

[lagatta]

Please, sign up to comment at the Grauniand and write in; I'm reading over the comments and there are a lot of ecocidal Harperites. I've been on the Grauniand for a long time but we need comments from other ecosocialists and other progressives hereabouts.

[Holly Stick]

Vivian Krause has been quoted by some media about how Canadian environment groups get funded by American organizations. This UBC professor points out some of the things she leaves out, like foreign ownership of Canadian industry.


http://greenpolicyprof.org/wordpress/?p=708