March 4, 2009

4 Comments

Mr. Prentice Goes to Washington, M(B?)illions to go where, exactly?

by Chris Hatch

Jim Prentice, Canada’s Environment Minister, is talking carbon in Washington D.C. this week. He picked an explosive time to visit.

10,000 Americans demanding action on global warming were simultaneously descending on D.C.. And the New York Times seems finally to have twigged to the fact that millions (if not billions) of people are going to be uprooted by climate change. The grey lady began an investigative series on climate refugees and the international chaos that emissions from the rich world are likely to cause in less-fortunate regions – begging the question: where will all the climate refugees go?

Pity poor Prentice. He’s putting a brave face on “coordinating carbon reductions” but he has tar sands protestors dogging him waving the National Geographic spread. Several thousand people (including NASA’s top scientist) shutting down the Capitol coal plant. The Canadian media making our federal government out to be a deer in the headlights of Obama’s oncoming surge towards green jobs, a clean economy and capping carbon.

The New York Times is a must-read for the climate concerned. And here’s a sampling of other media too:

• New York Times:  A migration that will change the face of the world Part1 in a series
• Hill Times: Canada ‘twiddles its thumbs’ waiting for an American-made climate strategy: environmentalists — Obama shows ‘real leadership’ on environment, but Canada is stuck in a holding pattern.
• Time on the Capitol Coal Plant protest: Despite Snow – and Irony – a Climate Protest Persists
• Toronto Star: Canada, U.S. share climate goals, Prentice says — Environment minister meets with Obama officials as anti-oil sands campaigners gather in Washington
• Andrew Cohen looks at the “pornography of pollution” in the Ottawa Citizen: Our dirty little secret
• Reuters: World faces last chance to avoid fatal warming: EU

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4 Responses so far...

1. Janet says:

   March 12, 2009 at 11:06 am

   The National Geographic article about the tarsands was horrific, so much natural gas to produce (say squeeeze) bitumen out of the ground which in itself is obscene. Canada is shown as a serious polluter, and us ordinary people need to think about our own ecological footstep and get out of our cars. Massive migration into Canada awaits us, are we ready for it?
2. Roger Gagne says:

   March 9, 2009 at 11:49 pm

   I’ve been writing letters in favor of a carbon tax for some 15 years; I think it is the single most powerful step we can take towards sustainability. Overdue, and we could have saved much if we had brought it in decades ago, but still not too late to shift us towards greater harmony with the Earth and all her inhabitants.
3. John Prentice says:

   March 6, 2009 at 2:06 pm

   I would like Canada to phase out the burning of fossil fuels gradually as we need to find clean energy sources to base our economy on and wean our existing economy off of oil. If we do not do this we will cause a major environmental collapse of world ecosystems and eventually our planet will die. this is serious and we need our politicians to act immediately on finding alternatives to fossil fuels as a energy source.
4. randy Randy says:

   March 4, 2009 at 11:03 am

   Barely any point in following the Canadian government anymore. We’re policy-takers now. Just scrambling to find some toehold with Obama and follow along.

   At least we’re trying to follow someone. And its a pretty good plan Obama’s team has coming together

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