It’s finally the end of the Copenhagen climate change summit. I don’t know about anyone else, but I had my hopes up. After almost two weeks of high-level collaborative teamwork you’d expect something more to show for it than the sooty remains of a huge carbon footprint. To be fair, our world leaders have come up with an insight that is staggering in its implications (see #2… no pun intended): “Deep cuts in global emissions are required.” I thought we already figured that part out. Oh snap! But wait, there’s more! The U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon tells us that, “although the accord may not be what everyone had hoped for, it is a beginning.” Apparently Kyoto is now passé; in 1997, I thought it was a beginning. In spite of my disappointment at the outcome of the conference, however, I can rest easy because Canada’s Minister of the Environment, Jim Prentice, assures me that this not legally binding accord is “an excellent agreement.” With Canada’s record of escalating carbon emissions each year since the Kyoto Accord was signed – a 27% increase from 1990 benchmark levels – how can I not feel good about this?
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Rex Murphy's View of the Earth

In a recent post, I pointed out that Rex Murphy is spouting climate denial based on the testimony of two self-annointed climate ‘experts,’ McIntrye and McKitrick. Quack #1 is a former mining stock promoter, and #2 is an economist. But who knows more about the science of global warming than stock promoters and economists, eh?

Rex can’t handle the truth because it contradicts his economic beliefs. Like many, Rex doesn’t understand that the economy is part of the environment, not the other way around. Rex Murphy is a modern-day inquisitor, terrified that a new view of the world will upset his privileged place, and I say the CBC should not be paying him to propagandize. I’ve discussed the deniers in greater depth on my climate change blog: The Great Global Warming Inquisition: Where Scientists are Galileo and the Church is Market Fundamentalism.
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A walkout is a victory for the deniers

I interviewed Elizabeth May yesterday on my “Climate Change Reality Radio Show,” Breakin’ Ice, and she’s certainly a smart cookie. By far the most knowledgeable of the federal leaders on global warming, greening the economy, and so on, she’s also the only one who ‘gets’ the danger of climate change.


But there is one critical thing she doesn’t get, and neither do most well-meaning people: Those she is up against have a different morality. I have called it the Predator Morality, as it accurately describes the behaviour of the deniers and free market fundamentalists. Think about the Canadian Harper government; these are people who wrote a secret manual on subverting our democratic system. Do you really think they are going to negotiate in good faith or that their word can be trusted? These are people who put ideology before their own children. Calling them predators is not name-calling – it is an accurate description of their observed behaviour.
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Flick off, Rex. Just flick off

How can we expect Canadians to vote in an informed manner when the CBC provides a platform – on the news, no less – to a nutter who chooses to believe paid oil company shills rather than Canada’s own climate scientists? Rex Murphy proudly notes that he gets his climate science from two guys who are not climate scientists; one is a former mining stock promoter and the other is an economist. Like Murphy, the economist is tight with the Libertarian Fraser Institute, which receives funding from ExxonMobil.

At best, this calls into question Murphy’s sense, and at worse, his integrity. Is he receiving money from Big Oil? Why else would any sane person believe two uncredentialed shills rather than Canada’s own scientists? Perhaps, like Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Rex Murphy believes this whole ‘global warming thing’ is a socialist conspiracy to take over the world?
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Stephen Harper and the Conservatives enjoy decent support in the polls. I suspect much of this is due to widespread – and justified – distrust of the Liberals in the West, combined with the belief that Mr. Harper is a Conservative.  But is he really? Are you getting what you’re voting for?

Canada is the biggest obstructor worldwide when it comes to action on global warming. This is deadly serious for many reasons. Even if Mr. Harper has bamboozled you into thinking that global warming is not happening, not human-caused, not a cause for concern, a giant socialist conspiracy, or some other claptrap, or if you believe that the Canadian government is doing the responsible thing about climate change, think again. You have been fooled by a master. Don’t believe politicians; go ask the scientists.
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In a previous post, I suggested that Mr. Harper and Mr. Ignatieff were, from the point-of-view of the average voter, slightly different flavours of vanilla. Someone on Reddit suggested that my post was a sales pitch for the Conservatives.

Considering that I have called for Mr. Harper to be charged with treason due to his obstruction and inaction on the climate crisis, the idea that I am suggesting people vote for the man is almost funny. The poor Redditor failed to understand the difference between analysis, which is what I was doing, and a recommendation, which I most definitely was not.

Just to be crystal clear, I am also extremely unimpressed with the other choices on the political spectrum. Jack Layton and the NDP seem to have forgotten what principles are in their desperate search for votes, any votes.
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Without disputing its cause or causes, impact or impacts, solution or solutions, most governments around the world have got climate change popping on their agenda all the time. Our energy has been invested in diverse ways to find possibilities of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. We’ve explored measures ranging from simple, “easy-to-do” home based stuffs like: “turn off”; to large scale, complex scientific experiments such as adding iron to the ocean, in what is known as: “ocean fertilization”.
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A day doesn’t pass by without a media report relating to the economic downturn. Irrespective of its origin, architect, beneficiary or solution, a quick and robust solution to reverse this trend is inevitable. In this respect, governments around the world have been busy designing economic stimulus packages, necessitated by the unprecedented loss associated with this dire situation.

In a world of growing demand for energy and rising prices, the Canadian energy sector, a top five world energy producer, generated 5.6% of its national GDP in 2007. Canadian energy exports fuels a great deal of US energy imports, directly and indirectly breathing livelihood and economic sustenance to Canada.
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Yesterday, the C.D. Howe Institute released their review of the Government’s renewable energy programs where they suggested the need for a re-focusing of tax-payer money.

The report calls for “A redirection of federal funds towards more fiscally cost-effective carbon mitigation.” It finds that the money is being spent inefficiently on subsidizing technologies aimed at reducing our CO2 emissions.
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Of no surprise to anyone, it is now being reported that Canada’s environmental inspector has found that much of the federal governments plan to save the planet from global warming was nothing more than lip service paid to the Canadian public.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration has rationed billions of taxpayers’ dollars for environmental initiatives. All of which promise to reduce Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 80 megatonnes, which is roughly 10% nationally.

However, Environment commissioner Scott Vaughn has given our fearless leader and his cronies less than favourable marks in a failing-grade report card released on February 5th.
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