New Green Plan

The Harpokon government released its new green plan the other day. And it is a bag of worthless crap. The key things to know are these:

1. The target it aims for is a 18% reduction in GHGs by 2010. The key problem here is that this is an 18% reduction from 2006 levels, not from 1990. Given the extent to which GHG emissions have risen since 1990, this does not even get our emissions back to our 1990 levels, let alone below them, as envisioned by the Kyoto Accord.
2. Instead of a hard requirement for emissions reductions, companies will be allowed to make "intensity" reductions, meaning a reduction in the GHGs emitted per unit of production. This means that if a company reduces emissions intensity by 25% yet increases production by 50%, emissions will rise 12.5%, instead of falling at all.

These two things are what make the plan exactly what Al Gore described it as, "a complete and utter fraud." It is designed to allow industry proceed on as before, making a further mess of our world.

By making these pathetic half-steps towards reducing our GHG emissions, we are essentially letting the big emitters of the world (U.S., China and India) off the hook. After all, if a rich, first world, state like Canada is unwilling to bite the bullet and take the necessary measures, why should China or India feel obliged to do so with much more meagre resources?

If the Conservatives think that this will get the public on-side, I am willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that it won't happen. All of the respected voices of the environmental movement (from Al Gore and David Suzuki on down) are calling bullshit on this so-called plan. I am so tired of this and I am so angry.

There is a problem, and it needs fixing now. And the fixing won't come from tinkering around the edges. We need to make major adjustments to the way we live, and they need to be made soon. There is still a very limited amount of time to phase in these changes, but if we wait much longer we are going to hit a wall and be forced to change by the fact that we will be facing an existential crisis.

The first good step to fixing this would be for the three opposition parties (NDP, Liberals and Bloc) to put every ounce of pressure available to them on the government to bring bill C-30 (the amended Clean Air Act) back to Parliament. It has important measures in it that would be very helpful. NDP leader Jack Layton has sent an open letter to the leaders of the other two opposition parties asking them for help, and hopefully the three parties will work together to make something happen.

We are running out of time.

Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 637