The Rintrarian Archive

“Stephen Harper not only opposes Kyoto, but he refutes the science. He’s back in the dinosaur era. Harper is just totally out of it.” — David Suzuki, on Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper in 2002

“Only a new Conservative government can provide real action on sovereignty, and will stand up for our Artic [sic] and for Canada.” the Conservative Website

Harper’s Tories will not support Kyoto and they seem to be reluctant to acknowledge the existence of global warming. Harper does not like the idea of companies being fined money for polluting and yet he is frustrated that the Liberals have not been able to best the American’s at the “Lower Your Green House Gas Emissions” game.

Quick recap: Kyoto is bunk science; global warming is not that bad; the Liberals have not done enough about Green House Gases; the Conservatives will not support Kyoto; and the Conservatives will not fine companies for producing Green House Gases. But then it is election time and now the Conservatives will make sure the Arctic is ours.
But why would we need to reclaim and ensure our sovereignty over the Arctic?

The United States has long challenged Canada’s claims to sovereignty over the Canadian Arctic, saying it considers much of the region to be international waters.

This could have serious implications if ice in the Northwest Passage starts to melt due to global warming and shipping companies decide to send vessels through the area to save time and fuel.[Emphasis mine.]

And so it seems that, for Harper, Canada has not done enough about global warming, which is melting the Arctic, and yet Harper criticizes Paul Martin for criticizing the US about global warming. Harper will not enact Kyoto which would, at the very least, be a start to fixing a problem and he will send ships to guard the results of global warming from the US and other countries. Martin yells at the US but Harper wants to point guns at them. [Guardian report on this war of words.]

While Harper wants to fight in the Arctic, Paul Martin says it is too expensive. While Martin wants to fight global warming. Harper says it is too expensive. The whole damned thing is too expensive but we can’t be too cheap to not fix it either. And we have to fix it on both sides. We need to curb the cause and we have to deal with the effects.

And there is debate about the cause, and the solutions to the cause. Some even suggest that the effects of global warming include Hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina is one of those thought to have been the sinful spawn of global warming. But recent analysis suggests that Katrina was a mere Category One Hurricane when it hit New Orleans. So then why the destruction? Too weak infrastructure to stop the storm? A government that hates the poor? Bush? Or is it something else?

The son of famed religious leader Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, suggests that it was God. And then Scarborough Country goes on talking about it. But others also don’t think that the US is Christian enough either. And The Onion implies that God is in a competition with terrorists.

The problem here is that no single group is claiming responsibility for global warming or climate change. Even if a company admitted that they were polluting they would likely state that the cost to change that is too great. The Liberals want to enact Kyoto which, in my opinion, is not enough and, instead of doing something real and coming up with more alternatives, they bitch-slap the Americans. (But kudos on that too.) The Conservatives say that Kyoto won’t do shit-all and so they instead want to protect the melted waters. The Greens and the NDP do appear to want to do something about the environment but until the Liberals and the Conservatives get their heads out of their asses nothing will happen.

We could just blame God. That way we do not have to assume any responsibility whatsoever. But I don’t think that is the way God would want things. So we could blame the sinners. But I recall someone saying “love the sinner, hate the sin” and someone else saying “Judge not lest ye be judged.” I think King James said one of those.