Midslope

nationalpost:

Canada rejects new Kyoto commitment despite Chinese concessions

Canada will not renew its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol once it expires in 2012 despite China suggesting Monday it could considering joining a global climate pact after 2020.

Environment Minister has Peter Kent confirmed in Durban, South Africa, that Canada will not join the second commitment of Kyoto which runs from 2013 to 2017.

This business of Canada leaving Kyoto just makes me angry. It makes me want to grab people in the streets and ask them what they’re thinking. The world has a problem, we’re slowly choking ourselves, all the while, forests are dying back, insect populations are erupting, invasive species are becoming established, ice caps are melting and all we can think about in this country are prisons and political infighting. 

Generally I love talking about politics, discussing ideas, getting down to the nitty gritty, but with this, I just don’t know what to say. I could blame the whole thing on science illiteracy, but that’s not the whole problem. People don’t trust science, they think that scientists must have an agenda, and I can see where they are coming from. Scientists do have to fight for their budgets, to produce papers to get funded, but I think that most of the people doing research today would rather it wasn’t so. Would rather they could just research in peace, and push the boundary of knowledge just that much further into the unknown. People go into science because they want to know more, and the methodology of science teaches us to ignore our personally held beliefs and ask ourselves why things are they way they are, and why we think of them a certain way. Not to find the answers that fit the ideas, but to create the ideas from the answers. I’m sure climate scientists would rather that global warming wasn’t happening, but you can’t just ignore the evidence that is in front of you. Nor can we afford to risk what could happen if we do nothing about climate change. 

The really frustrating part is that it’s not even the economy killer that people make it out to be. Germany, who are holding themselves afloat during the European debt crisis, are meeting their Kyoto targets, and their economy is doing fine. Why? Because they found a way to create innovation, jobs and a whole new sector of the economy devoted to green technology and reducing Germany’s carbon output. The renovations to every building to increase efficiency created jobs, saved people money and reduced carbon output. The development of windmill technology means that around the world, for decades to come, Germany will be selling their technology to countries like Canada and the US, because our governments didn’t have the courage to step up and change things. To hell with the voters, if every party in this country would adopt a green platform, would see the economic and ecological benefits in thinking about the environment, then it wouldn’t need to be about rhetoric, or what big oil found intractable. 

We need to change things, we need to step up. The planet can’t afford to start a cold war over climate change. “Well, <countryX> isn’t doing anything so why should we, it won’t make a difference.” If all the Russian and American politicians had stuck to that mentality during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s we probably wouldn’t have a world to ruin. Inflexibility and lack of humility hurts everyone in this situation. Rich, poor, young, old, Liberal, Conservative, we are all equal citizens of this world, and we can ill afford to ruin it. (Especially while we’re cutting funding for the space program. Burning down the house and nailing the doors shut at the same time… Smart.) 

Mr Harper, if you could read this, I would tell you to sit down, look at the evidence and decide if you want to gamble your children’s futures against the possibility that you might have to move out of 24 Sussex Drive. One way or another, you will be remembered for your part in all of this. What kinds of things do you want the history books saying about you, and about Canada?