Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Will the mainstream media pick this up? Mooo!!!

The answer is probably no. They're so caught up in showing the cycle of chunks of ice falling off glaciers, never mind the cold weather all across North America.

But I almost gave up hope. The mainstream media was showing simple graphs on how the greenhouse effect works (by only showing CO2!) on websites, how politicians call greenhouse gases harmful (water vapour is harmful?), and how Prime Minister Harper is being lambasted for a letter that was sent to Canadian Alliance members back in 2002 (we'll get to that in a moment).

Then the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) puts a report out saying that the climate problem isn't man, but COWS!!!

"The 400-page report by the FAO, entitled “Livestock's Long Shadow,” also
surveys the damage done by sheep, chickens, pigs and goats. But in almost
every case, the world's 1.5 billion cattle are most to blame. Livestock are responsible for 18 percent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together. "
Oh great, now the vegetarians are going to say, I told you so, but we'll have to get rid of all the cows, so PETA will be upset. What are we to do?

Okay, onto Prime Minister Harper. The sneaky Liberals found this letter which sent out when Harper was leader of the opposition:

“Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of
wealth-producing nations,” says the letter, signed by Mr. Harper.

“Implementing Kyoto will cripple the oil and gas industry, which is
essential to the economies of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta
and British Columbia . . .

“Workers and consumers everywhere in Canada will lose. THERE ARE NO
CANADIAN WINNERS UNDER THE KYOTO ACCORD.”

He also blasted the treaty for targeting carbon dioxide — which he said is
“essential to life” — and played down the science of climate change as
“tentative and contradictory.”


He was right! The Kyoto Accord IS a socialist scheme and it does nothing to curtail pollution and smog.

This blog has been recently dedicated to showing the myth that man is causing global warming.

But I'm now worried though. The Conservatives haven't really fought that fight at all to challenge the debate of whether or not man made CO2 is causing global warming.

I think the Dion election to the Liberal leadership caught them off-guard on the environment file and it is difficult when the mainstream media hasn't picked up on Dion's faults. The Conservatives had no choice but to air some TV ads informing Canadians about what Dion has said during his race.

Environment Minister John Baird supposedly just cut a deal with the NDP on the Clean Air Act. Not sure what that entails yet, but I'm hoping that the Conservatives will tip-toe around any measure that pinpoints CO2 emissions rather than real pollution.

Dion is accusing Harper of being a climate change denier. We know that Dion will never realize that Kyoto has nothing to do with climate change. Harper has and is denying Kyoto, not climate change, which is happening, as it has been happening for billions of years, it's just that climate science is an extremely difficult science to pin down as there are millions of parameters involved.

And according to the UNFAO, the real gaseous emissions are coming from cattle. For a sec there, I thought it was the Liberals again.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haven't weighed in on the issue as of yet because I don't have an informed opinion....just a pragmatic hunch which would have me questioning: if we keep doing what we've been doing and at the astronomical pace we've been doing it this past century, how can expect otherwise than that we're going to keep getting what we've been getting, which is the highest levels of co2 in 650K yrs., and a 1.3 degrees F increase in global temps. since the dawn of the industrial age.

Not to mention a bunch more speculation and obscurity on the issue as this side argues it's this and that side argues it's that and nothing gets done except politicians stall, energy companies keep doing what they've been doing with no checks and measures and a bunch of reports get researched.

Here's a thought...cap emissions so we can do some measurements. End of story. Across the board measurable caps.

We are a wasteful society - the only efforts we have seen in the past decade on this issue are to quash it, throw a bunch of apologetic hot air around it on both sides of the debate (I think that may be contributing to the greenhouse gas effect) and of course, to see it buried under the White House carpet.

Sides are taken in order to be right - at which point I question, who gives a shit who is "right" and who is "wrong" - the simple fact is we should be trying to control the human factor in any way possible, regardless of whether our CO2 levels are low lying, high flying or somewhere in between.

We have a 30-50 year window in time now to significantly lower our emission levels - it could be the grand 21st century science experiment. If it works, then it will have said something. If it doesn't, then we know it's much bigger than you or I and our energy consumptions.

No one can dispute that the planet cannot sustain these increases in carbon dioxide levels...cause aside. Or I would hope no one is disputing that, but again, I'm losing sight of what the hell people are disputing.

Again, I don't understand the grandstanding polemics on the other side of the debate. As Joe Schmoe energy company - yes, but as average citizen...I remain confused.

We have the smarts, the technology and the window in time...too bad we can't all get our shit together and collectively fuel a sustainable future for this planet instead of wanting to squandor the years in the name of the almighty energy companies.

We're clearly to big for our britches and need a diet. Perhaps if we go on a beef only one, that will fix things.

OK, now I'm going to go outside and hug my tree which is dangerously close to needing chopping after nearly two dozen freak storm systems this winter. Have you hugged your's today?

PS - our religious sensibilities are spot on - our political ones, not so much!

In fairness, I will admit I used to slide further down the political spectrum your way until I had kids and began to open up to a more macro worldview.

Շɬɠɠ™ said...

Hey Hatrock - just passing through by way of your sis's blog on MSN - i have a blog here on google, but it's a slower going journey, what with word verifications etc to post a comment :) my msn gets more traffic, so hence it gets more attention.....squeeky wheel hmmmm? I actually have little of importance to say on my blog and it's a plethora of this and that and laughs. take a gander if you feel so inspired (man, with that intro, how can you pass?) take care! http://tressiepoohscorner.spaces.live.com
ttfn ~ tigg - tressie