Saturday, December 01, 2007

Kyoto and "the Goracle"

Okay so it's the first of December, and I had to chase the penguins out of my driveway this morning. Keep in mind that -20C is a little bit cold for this time of year, even in northern Ontario. With all the hype surrounding Kyoto and the imminent heating of our planet to the point of extinction of all known life...Let's all pause and get a grip.

In Canada I have been led to believe that I must stop heating my home, stop using energy-guzzling incandescent bulbs, stop going to work, stop cooking my food, and instead curl up in my unheated, unlit home in a polar sleeping bag, freezing in the dark, in order to save the planet. Al Gore has brainwashed the Board of the Nobel Prize and most of mankind with his misleading and dishonest "Inconvenient Truth", which has been bought, lock stock and barrel by the political left in Canada.

Thankfully not much of the hype seems to sticking, given the news release from Environment Canada which predicts the coldest winter in fifteen years. Jack Layton, never afraid to shy away from feigned moral indignance or empty political grandstanding, declared that "the planet is dying" last week, and that means of course we should be bicycling to work, and taking turns warming our hands over the single, curly fluorescent bulb we will be allowed to share. Jack is against coal power and nuclear power, so I guess we'll all need to move to Mexico. The thought of me drowning a polar bear every time I fire up my massive four cylinder engine brings an imaginary tear to my eye.

Canada's contribution to greenhouse gases is less than 2% of the worldwide total. Until China and India get onboard with emissions caps, don't even ask me to start giving up my necessities. Our contribution to the "problem", if there really is one, is in the "drop in a bucket" range. But do feel free to buy your carbon offsets from Al Gore's company, if that makes you feel better.

3 comments:

Miloj Gack! said...

Impressive. Move away from the absurd (that's MY turf) and do some social commentary. You and Kev should do this for a living.

Linnea said...

Well, it's a year and a bit later, and the Japanese Pine Bark beetle has moved a little deeper into our boreal forests because the winter freeze just isn't deep enough to kill it anymore. They've managed to leap the Rocky Mountains and head east, because it's just not cold enough to stop them (even though it used to be, for decades).

Hope your livelihood in Northern Ontario doesn't depend on the forests. That way, the warming winters needn't bother you, and you can continue to deny global warming and drive around in your SUV.

KR_Raven said...

Of course the Pine Beetle problem is due to man's activity and not any natural cycle or change in climate which has occurred in the past. There is no proof that I have seen or heard to prove that any climate change is due to man's activities. There are equally persuasive arguments to the contrary. The debate, if there ever was one, is definitely not over.

We have had other non-native species invade our turf as well, such as Zebra mussels in the Great Lakes, and Cormorants at numerous inland lakes. Life goes on. The natural climate, and the related habitat is always in flux even if we can't measure it from day to day.

There are scientists who are claiming that global warming stopped in 1999. Current NASA sunspot measurements show that solar activity has been extremely low since 2005. Before man got all technologically advanced, it was usually the sun that took the blame for heating the planet. Now I am to feel guilty about driving a small underpowered SUV and using incandescent light bulbs. Truly this is bizarro world.

Obama is introducing climate change legislature, so take heart. Our taxes will rise even more as we get further and further away from a solution. The developing nations that do all the manufacturing we outsourced to and other emerging economies will surpass Canada and the US in standard of living. They will do it all free of any carbon or pollution restrictions we are imposing on ourselves. Smart move!

North America has squandered its advantage by giving away wealth-producing factories and much needed jobs. Is it a coincidence that a mere ten years after the big manufacturing moved to the third world, north America is now suffering as never before? When people don't have money they use credit, and when credit collapses...we have recession. When unemployment increases beyond ten percent, it will be a depression. More restrictions. legislation and higher taxes to pay for "green technology" should about finish off what's left of the employment picture.

Gotta go and brush up on my Mandarin lessons.