Copenhagen looking dimmer as Canada drags its heels

“What are we thinking??? This is so pathetic!” So says my other half – in a reaction borne out of growing impatience with the reverse gear in which we Canadians seem to be stuck.

Sir David King, the UK’s former chief scientific adviser, yesterday accused Canada and Japan of blocking progress towards a meaningful international deal to tackle climate change…. [From Canada and Japan accused of blocking Copenhagen progress ]

So says another frustrated citizen of our planet. Apparently we are “undermining the talks” and “gung-ho about rising oil prices and want to exploit that.”

We are falling down on the front lines. What is needed is a “battlefield commission”, so that someone with vision and principle can take charge, rise up as the “champion” and move us forward.

Canada used to quietly hide behind the policies of the previous U.S. administration, but now that the U.S. has begun changing course, the Canadian Harper government is going solo and protecting its resource-based economic interests rather than balancing them with a clear vision of the problems that we leave for our children to cope with down the road.

Unfortunately, elections can change governments, but what does it take to change the electorate, the heart of the nation? I am not sure. Perhaps we are doomed to live out our mistakes.

Or, maybe the tide will turn when things get really bad. Of course, the later that happens, the more difficult the road will be. But how often in human history have clear-headed leaders seen threats and dealt with them surgically to avoid certain crisis and calamity? We seem to like the harder road. As we often tell our children, “you always seem to learn things the hard way.”

Shining some light on ways to reduce energy

Things south of the Canada-U.S. border are moving quickly. Some would say too quickly, but I for one feel that issues around energy resources, climate change, etc…. need addressing yesterday!

Fresh from securing victory in the House of Representative vote on the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, the Obama administration pressed on with its low-carbon programme this week with a raft… [From Obama to pull plug on energy guzzling lights ]

It seems that very little happens of its own accord, where threats to our accustomed way of life are concerned, so governments need to bite the bullet and legislate necessary changes for us. It takes a lot of courage to put our future sustainability over political futures.

Sure, telling us how we are allowed to light homes and businesses seems like small potatoes (and some would say intrusive), but electric lighting accounts for about 7% of energy used (at least in the United States). Use any argument you like to support it: reducing dependence on foreign oil, saving world energy resources, dumping less carbon dioxide into the air.. it really doesn’t matter. Let’s just get it done.

It’s a start. What next?

Canada screws up (again) on Climate

TreeHugger has an excellent overview of Canada’s failing report card on Climate Change:

To the surprise of nobody who lives there, Canada has come in dead last on a climate report card prepared by the World Wildlife Foundation. The US is close behind, but at least is going in the right direction.

“Nowhere else on Earth do fewer people steward more resources, yet Canada now stands dead last among the G8 nations in protecting our shared home from the threat of dangerous climate change,” said foundation spokesman Keith Stewart.

[From EPIC FAIL for Canada on WWF Climate Report Card : TreeHugger]

I am Canadian….. so I can practice what we are so good at – pointing out our own shortcomings!

I am ashamed that our federal government is not taking a bolder stance on Climate Change. I am sick and tired of everyone living merrily in the moment, “fiddling as Rome burns.” I am tired of looking the other way as we bury our heads in the sand and sacrifice future generations for our present comforts. I am tired of greed trumping good sense. I am tired of profits winning out over sound policy that looks ahead and not down at one’s feet. I am tired of watching scientific evidence and consenus being ignored by those who are increasingly afraid that their self-serving way of life is under threat. I am certain that we would want to make a drastic shift if we could only catch a glimpse 50 years ahead into the future… alas, our vision (or lack of it) is all we have.

We can do so much better. We have risen to challenges before, and we will rise again.

I am Canadian.

Obama speech reactions: How badly does the world want peace?

I have been mulling over my own reactions to U.S. President Obama’s June 4th speech in Cairo. World peace is one of the cornerstones of our sustainable future on this planet, and so it affects me as a Canadian, as well as the United States of America, Muslim nations, and every other corner of this planet. It used to be that conflicts could be regional. Now, with the bigger “sticks” offered by more lethal applications of technology, every one of us should be concerned. With the increasingly global nature of trade, energy resources, business and economies in general, the motivation for conflict between nations will likely continue to escalate. And so Obama delivers a speech that could be more of a “game-changer” than his speech on “race” during the Democratic Party primaries in early 2008. I can only admire the courage and skill that he exhibited in speaking to the Muslim world – not an easy audience, given the many grievances held by Muslim nations against the West, and America in particular.

And yet, the initial responses from the loudest world “institutions” included “We hate America” (Iran), condemnation from U.S. conservatives for his “tour of apology” (as if power and might have always been justified and right), and general comments that he unfairly singled out ________ (insert name of nation). In general – “we want more” and “give the others less” – were themes of the day based on many of the responses that the mainstream media giddily pounced upon.

Frankly, these responses seemed to empty me of much of the optimism and hope that I initially felt after seeing and reading Obama’s speech. I just can’t get over how selfish, navel-gazing, power-hungry humanity can be. Is there any hope at all for world peace when all we can do is bicker about politics, past grievances, and jockey for position in the ever-evolving pecking order of world power. Balance and perspective may yet come to the dialogue, though…. “Back home,” David Horowitz posted a good piece on Salon.com which addressed why U.S. conservatives should be largely supportive of Obama’s efforts —

Conservatives will make a great mistake if they fail to see this speech for what it was, and treat it as another round in the partisan food fight.

How badly do we want peace? More of the same, or working together toward peace? How badly does the world want peace?

As Albert Einstein once said,

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.