The Bottom Line Is You Are Doomed

So let's raise the minimum wage to $15, reduce the wait times to zero, open another million day care spaces, increase welfare rates by 50%, bring the troops home, give the indians everything they ask for and the list goes on and on. By the end of the century we will not have enough water, arable land will diminish to the point that it cannot be used to feed the hungry, etc. etc. so you might as well enjoy yourselves until the world comes to an end.

Climate change means hunger and thirst for billions: report


Two New Books Confirm Global Warming is Natural; Not Caused By Human Activity

January 31, 2007
Turning green with nausea
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN

I'm not sure who scares me more these days on global warming -- Liberal Leader Stephane Dion or Conservative Environment Minister John Baird.

But I think it's Baird.

Watching this former Tory attack dog out-Suzuki David Suzuki, when a few months ago Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his party were voicing skepticism about climate change, is frightening.

It's as if Baird, Harper and the entire Tory caucus are auditioning for the lead role in a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and want to prove they can kill their own brain cells and re-emerge as alien pod people, having drunk from what until recently they would have called "the Kyoto Kool-Aid."

Every time I see Baird, as he juggles previous Tory statements dismissing global warming with present ones accepting it, I expect him to blurt out: "I'm not really an environmentalist, I just play one on TV."

As for Dion, what power does he hold over so many in the Ottawa press gallery and Globe Editor-in-Chief Edward Greenspon, that makes them think he symbolizes our hopes for the environment?

The Liberals had more than 12 years to do something, including the last 18 months when Dion -- the minister of "could've, should've, and would've" -- was in charge of the environment portfolio.

All they did was sign Kyoto and then ignore it, falling 35% behind their own greenhouse gas emission targets by the time they lost power.

In the Globe's magnum opus on global warming last Saturday, we learned from Greenspon's column (featuring a picture of a smiling Dion surrounded by unnaturally happy supporters at the Liberal leadership convention) that the staff at a restaurant insisted on serving Dion from green dishes upon learning he would dine there. Really?

Gee. Who gives a !@*$?

If Greenspon read the Strategic Counsel poll he commissioned for his series, he knows Canadians deeply mistrust all four mainstream parties on the environment, including Dion's Grits. The Greens, who have never elected an MP, score better than any of them.

Back in the real world, if what many scientists say is true, climate change will not be a media-generated, one-year or one-election wonder.

It will be a centuries-long struggle where, even if we start reducing man-made greenhouse gases today, they will, due to their longevity in the atmosphere, continue to increase for decades to come, while temperatures will continue to rise for centuries.

As for Kyoto's 2012 targets -- which many countries, including Canada, are going to miss unless we blow billions buying "hot air" from Russia -- that's just the start.

The bigger issue now is what comes after 2012 and whether the U.S. and China -- the world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters -- will accept any reduction targets.

This is serious, long-term stuff. It's not about whether Dion names his dog "Kyoto" or Baird wears a green tie.

Overreact to global warming in the current climate of political/media-induced hysteria, and we could devastate our resource-based economy, fuel Alberta separatism and ignore other key environmental issues Canadians deeply care about, from toxic chemicals in the air and water, to smog.

Underreact and we could hand our children and their children's children not just a rapidly heating planet, but a massive bill to cope with increasingly violent weather.

On the other hand, Canada and Russia are the two countries most likely to benefit from a longer growing season, something politicians don't dare even mention in the current climate of political hype.

Largely because of constant fear-mongering by environmental radicals, we are also foolishly cutting ourselves off from nuclear power, which emits no greenhouse gases.

In fact, I doubt the Liberals, Tories or anyone else in Ottawa believe a word of their own rhetoric on global warming these days. If they did, they'd be calling for a national unity government to address what could be an unprecedented crisis, not taking cheap shots at each other and insulting our intelligence.