In what will surely become a political issue, at least for the Green Party of Canada, scientists now report that Canadian forests – the “lungs of the planet” – have become carbon dioxide emitters rather than sequestering this greenhouse gas.

These 1.2 million square miles of greenery gained their fame, and their name, by covering seven percent of the world’s surface and absorbing phenomenal quantities of carbon dioxide, whose atmospheric rise since the industrial revolution is believed to be causing climate change, also known as global warming.

With two cold winters in a row, the global warming camp is currently facing serious opposition. In spite of that, 66 percent of Canadians still feel climate change is a serious and growing threat to the habitability of the earth in general, and their beautiful country in particular.

This bias is particularly apparent in Western Canada, where opponents of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s policies – notably his lame proposal for a Clean Air Act – argue that the Act ends up looking less like an environmental measure and more like a giveaway to industry, allowing pollution to rise with production. Saddest of all, Canada – which (unlike the United States) ratified the Kyoto Accord – is now the first country to backpedal on its commitment to such an extent that it won’t meet its Kyoto target until 2025, if then.

Canadian forests, devastated by a period of warming from about 1990 to 2000, are being burned in natural fires, eaten by pine beetles and other insects, and literally being pushed out of their range, since every degree of warming moves ecologies north by about 10 kilometers.

Forest aren’t politically oriented, but in a nation (and world) increasingly focused on ecological meltdown, it is likely that the damage to Canadian forests could translate to a push to limit, or even suspend, tar sands production, which Environmental Defence – a Canadian Greenpeace clone – calls the most destructive energy project on Earth. It could also mean a reversal for Harper’s Conservative Party, and the rise of the Greens if last year’s melting in Nunavit and the Canadian Arctic offer a repeat performance this spring.

Here in America, where many forests have already been gobbled up by urban sprawl, industrialization, and logging, environmentalists are following developments avidly. The recent suspension of parliament, aimed at retaining Harper and preventing an election, seems like a last-ditch stand by the tar-sands worshipping, environment-hating Conservatives to continue their rape of one of the last unspoiled wildernesses on the North American continent.

With oil prices plummeting, and fuel use dropping, the chances are looking better and better that Harper policies may soon be at an end, providing an opportunity for a Liberal/Green coalition that sees the danger in pushing Canadian environment to the ropes.

Related posts:

1. Can Canada be a “Green Opportunist” in This Period of Economic Downturn? A day doesn’t pass by without a media report relating...
2. Salvaging the Liberal Party of Canada As H1N1 sweeps across the nation, Liberal poll numbers sputter...
3. Carbon Credit – The “Green Gold” Global trade in carbon is a growing business with quadrupling...
4. Is it a Stunt or a “Cure” for Climate Change? Without disputing its cause or causes, impact or impacts, solution...
5. Stephen Harper and Conservative Action on Climate Change: Are You Getting What You’re Voting For? Stephen Harper and the Conservatives enjoy decent support in the...

Tags: climate change, Environment, forests, global warming, Green Party, greenhouse gas

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 12:23 am and is filed under Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.