It’s no surprise that people have a hard time knowing what to think, as the climate talks continue in Paris. The messages are prolific and span a wide spectrum.
Some examples:
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Move Along Folks, Nothing to See Here
The Friends of Science Society says it has spent a decade reviewing a broad spectrum of literature on climate change “and have concluded that sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide.”
It’s worth mentioning that this group, Friends of Science, is attracting complaints filed to the federal Competition Bureau and elsewhere. These complaints allege, among other things, that:
The confusion they sow makes low-carbon technologies less competitive and distorts capital investment toward high-carbon industries, risking a carbon bubble
2. Something’s Happening, But Let’s Be Careful
Jeffry Simpson writes in the Globe and Mail
Canada has always punched above its weight in producing carbon emissions, but below its weight in reducing them. This sorry state of affairs cannot be reversed overnight, not in a country that produces so much fossil fuel, the demand for which will be considerable in Canada and overseas for a long time to come. . . . . . .
. . . . Carbon pricing is the way to go. A yellow light, though. Be careful how it’s done. Capital is mobile. It can flee from jurisdictions with carbon pricing to those that don’t. Good intentions poorly designed can bring pain.
3. This Could Really Hurt the Bottom Line
Shawn McCarthy in the Globe and Mail covers Al Gore’s recent remarks in Paris about the financial consequences of an agreement to hold global temperature rise to 2C:
The global financial system faces a growing risk from the world’s response to climate change that will “strand” fossil-fuel assets, including much of Canada’s oil-sands reserves, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said on Thursday.
The National Observer covers the same ground in a different way.
Dirty fuels, by contrast he says, have become less competitive to wind and solar due to unforeseen technology advances, but also because of new carbon restrictions being imposed by nations this week in Paris to curb planetary warming to less than two degrees.
Fossil fuel companies are at risk of becoming “stranded assets,” Gore said.
“Many do understand, there are multiple pathways to stranding. Action at this conference is one. Action by the state of California, and Ontario and Alberta by the European Union and local governments [are others].”
COP21 is literally a tough negotiation over how to divvy up the room that’s left in the atmosphere for global warming pollution while the world transitions to a zero-fossil fuels economy.
4. This Could Get Ugly
Naomi Klein, as reported in the National Observer by Mychaylo Prystupa.
. . . . Klein says current country emissions targets at COP21 are “completely unacceptable.”
She’s not alone. Few here at the summit, including scientists and the UNFCC, believe the climate targets proposed by nations will be enough to keep global warming below two degrees —the summit’s official goal. The hope is, the final agreement will include a mechanism for “ratcheting up” stricter climate targets in five years time. . . . .
. . . . .”We know we are up against forces which have a huge amount to gain from inaction. When you look at the sponsors of the [COP21] summit, the fossil fuel companies, there’s trillions of dollars to lose if we have a response to climate change that acknowledges we have to leave the vast majority of reserves in the ground,” said Klein.
You dare to quote a fringe nut like Naomi Klein .. and other marxists destroying the planet’s economy ?
How about some balanced coverage, such as the appeasing of China ?
There is so much BS spouted by the rich 1% elite who can afford the imported $10 banana or the $10 loaf of bread from wheat planted by e-tractor, harvested by e-combine, then shipped by e-truck to e-ship, then picked up by e-truck and distributed by e-mini-truck.
The gabfest in Paris is just a milking by China and other poorer, usually corrupt undemocratic nations of the rich first world out of BILLIONS for alleged “carbon mitigation” also referred to as a bribe.
Until China & India get their dirty air under control anything that we here in Canada do is utterly meaningless. Utterly. Flights to and vacations in Hawaii, of course, will get more far expensive, as will energy and anything you eat or buy here at home, or heating your house or apartment. Another GST increase in disguise, really. The climate .. meh .. a mere sideshow in Paris !
How did they get to Paris on taxpayers expense anyway ? by e-bike ? Did they row across the Atlantic ? Such hypocrisy .. exploited by China and others !
http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/chinas-climate-power-game
The investment banks and corporate boards who created toxic debt and who buy politicians to mold, kill or prevent the inception of environmental laws, pay under the table to have “science” organzations cast doubt on genuine scientific evidence, to hide billions in taxable income in offshore accounts that only benefit the 1% of the 1% of the 1%, and to purchase the deregulation of the financial sector are the ones “destroying the planet’s economy.” Not a Marxist to be found among them.
Regarding the exorbitant emissions of China and India, let those who have addressed their own much, much higher per capita emissions cast the first stone.
About 40% of China’s emissions are dedicated to making products for export. The products Canada imports contain an inherent carbon imprint. There are also the emissions embedded in the fossil fuels Canada exports. The Canadian economy is a lot filthier than the sum of emissions that occur within our borders.
Likewise, China’s emissions would be a lot less if you deducted the embedded carbon in products ravenously consumed by other nations. It’s not as though China hasn’t paid a steep environmental and health price for first creating a ripping export economy, then now to serve a growing Chinese middle class. It will pay a lot more when Shanghai starts to be submerged by rising seas.
“Friends of Science”… HA!