Bali2010

Well I suppose it says something about the new world order that India & China are getting the moral highground

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...climate-treaty

Novocastrian

I imagine it's no shock to anyone that I completely agree with the sentiments expressed in the article. The fools in power have discredited Canada and made all thinking Canadians ashamed.

And for what? Just because they can (or they say they can).

jimf

Obviously then India and China wouldn't dream of purchasing any oil from Canada.

Novocastrian

Frankly, I'd be surprised if anyone will buy anything from Canada at all.

iaink

Unfortnatley I doubt it. There is a long history of people buying oil from regimes with questionable records in all kinds of areas. When it comes to oil many people seem to not be too picky.

I suspect that Canada just said and did what the US was too politically sensitive to do. Global warming / climate change seems to be a scarily low priority among the electorate in north america

Alan2005

We'll only stop burning oil when either there's none left, or no oxygen to burn it with. Hopefully the former will happen before the latter.

jimf

I've no scruples either - cheese from Old or New France, fridge from Germany, mandarins from China anything goes.......

iaink

From the Globe and Mail today...

It doesn’t matter what Canadians tell pollsters about how much they are concerned with climate change; what matters is the choices we make. And whenever we have been offered the choice of accepting personal inconvenience in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or of making sure that fossil fuels are cheap and plentiful, we have consistently and overwhelmingly chosen the latter.

And politicians have paid attention.

MikeUK

Say one thing, do another

Just a simple look at what is being driven on the highway will tell all you need to know...

Bali2010

I think the Uk already does - can't find it now but think I posted a link before about that

I understand this, as it is easy to challenge theories about future predictions as our choices now won't affect us personally - expecting personal choice to protect the future is a tad optimistic, let alone the fact that those who are struggling now really don't look to the future

glad I don't have kids.

floods aren't cheap & droughts intolerable though so we will see how many of those it takes to reset the politics a little (2007 created a new act in the UK)
Canada may not feel so exposed to those (I haven't looked), but given the water pcc in some parts it certainly doesn't seem so worried.

iaink

To be honest I dont think the average canadian even associates global warming with floods and droughts, Canada has so much fresh water its not a concern. I suspect many canadian residents half look forward to a less severe winter, unaware of the global political turmoil that will also be a result.

Novocastrian

So, in a nutshell, Canadian residents are (on average) stupid?

Bali2010

oh dear - the average are ill informed so hopefully the wider education will improve - it is not universally accessible water - towns spread out - already on rota cuts - and massive infrastructure would be needed.

snow pack is a key source that is being lost, abstractions compete with fisheries / agric

I have enough probs to solve here first so should stop bleating on a fave topic, but I know industry colleagues in BC & alberta are aware + cringe at the Per Capita Consumption compared to other countries

Lord Vader

I am glad we pulled out of Kyoto. I would have had a fit if we sent one cent to some BS ponzi scheme. Sorry, but Kyoto is not about saving the planet, or if it is it is designed by idiots. Any supposed treaty or protocol without the biggest emitters signing on is a joke. If it is total parts per million in the atmosphere and then to give China a free pass? that is a joke. It is a joke of a deal to try and make it binding for some and not others. Chretien was a fool to sign it and then do nothing.

So then the argument comes,...."Well, if you add up the number of people in a country, then divide it by the c02 emissions (or vice versa) Canada's is high, so we should let China and India and Brazil keep polluting at a rate many times as fast as the west as ever done in order for the math to match up, so that everyone gets to pollute equally, and thus save the planet".

Yeah, lets scrap the oil sands and start shipping more of it in to North America from Saudi Arabia who today decapitated a women for practicing witch craft, or maybe comrade Chavez in Venezuela, or perhaps we can make arrangements with the enlightened government of Iran, or perhaps some of the prince's of the Arabian peninsula, or maybe the Nigerians and Angolans will be kind enough. Or maybe we can build an underwater pipeline from Russia, similar to the land based natural gas pipelines from Russia to Europe, or maybe the Brits and Norwegians will send us some from the north sea, I hear that deep water drilling is a nice, clean, environmentally safe way to extract oil, BP seems to think so. Whatever the result, we should not be producing it ourselves cause it is dirty and unethical and will destroy the planet.

But whatever, you guys keep ordering in food and cheese from halfway round the world, it will go well with your morale superiority discussions about cradles.

FFS

Novocastrian

I thought you'd be along soon.

FFS.