Deadly lung disease brought to you by Canada

Of course, it’s really what we should’ve expected from Stephen Harper’s government, that profits trump health.  But he wanted to continue to sell asbestos to the rest of the world (while treating it as a dangerous substance in Canada) without having to inform Canada’s customers of the health hazards.  And so he arranged it.

Is your cancer or deadly lung disease made in Canada?  Stephen Harper and the Conservatives don’t care.  That means that, officially, Canada doesn’t care, either.

Another mark against our international reputation, I guess.  I wonder how much of that reputation we have left to trade upon?

See Canada, Others Block Asbestos from U.N. Hazardous List - Scientific American

Will Canada Benefit From Climate Change? Not too likely.

The idea that certain parts of the world, particularly Canada and Russia, will actually benefit from climate change is one that you will occasionally encounter in the media.  How true is it?

Let's look at some evidence. For instance, the killer heatwave, the wildfires and the crop failures in Russia last year.  Or the 300 year flood in Manitoba this year, accompanied by the 100 year flood in Quebec.  How about the ever-expanding wildfire season which recently took out an entire Alberta town?  Okay, not so good.

Then how about the Arctic?  The melting of the Arctic sea ice has opened up sea lanes that simply never existed before in human experience.  This makes it easier to get around the Arctic and utilize its resources, right?  Not exactly.  Sea lanes may have opened up, but ground travel over northern territories has become increasingly compromised with warming.  Some areas in the far north are not accessible by year round roads--they are simply not feasible--and are accessed by temporary ice.

According to Science Daily, reporting on a new Arctic transportation study: "A major casualty will be temporary ice roads." SD continues, "Constructed across frozen ground, lakes, rivers and swampy areas using compacted snow and ice and applied sheets of ice, these roads currently provide access to vast swaths of inland terrain where the construction of all-weather roads is not economically viable."

See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110601091443.htm

And none of the above addresses the biggest problem.  How the heck does Canada profit when the global economy collapses?  

And it will.  A housing bubble in one country almost took the global economy down recently.  A global ecological collapse will destroy the global economy entirely, since entire countries will become economically unviable, some uninhabitable, if we don't do something now, in this decade, about climate change.

Canada may survive climate change with more crop growing land and longer growing seasons.  But the world in which the Canadian economy currently flourishes will be gone, and that is the world upon which our present standard of living is based.  Without it, we'll all be peasant farmers. 

That's hardly good news either.

New BC Government Report Says to Prepare for Sea Level Rise

A new BC government report says that we should prepare for sea level rises of 0.5 metres by 2050, 1.0 metres by 2100 and 2.0 metres by next century—and re-evaluate again in three years to see if these figures hold. They might be worse.

The writers of the report are not worried yet about increasing storm intensities or storm surges on the north coast, but recommend we monitor the situation and see how things evolve.

Just try not to build the dyke (or the town) too low.

See BC Ministry of the Environment - Climate Change Adaption Guidelines - Draft

Stephen Harper Victory Bad News for the Environment

What does Stephen Harper's victory mean for the environment?  Not so good news.  Expect more oil sands development, less environmental oversight and more climate change dodging for four or five years.

If Canadians want to get anything done, they'll have to force Harper's hand or manage change through other means.  The international, the provincial, the local, the organizational and the personal all remain as options for moving forward.

Stephen Harper has a majority government, but he is still vulnerable to international pressures.  Wherever they might come from.  It's conceivable that international pressures will build up in circumstances where the climate continues to hand around climate disaster worldwide--as it now seems prepared to do.

It is also true that in Canada, most of the environment is in the charge of the provinces.  Provinces can set their own priorities on the environment in contradiction of Stephen Harper's business as usual approach.

For those of us who want to save the planet for our children and grandchildren, there's a heck of a lot of work to do and huge challenges.

Just like before.

Stephen Harper's plan to fight climate change “the worst possible” - report

Stephen Harper’s plan to fight climate change through a “targeted approach” is the least effective, the most expensive and most difficult to implement of the plans proposed by Canada’s national parties.  The Greens, New Democrats and the Liberals all favour a market-based approach, the cap-and-trade system.  According to a report by Canada’s climate change secretariat, the Conservatives plan, such as it is--and there is no guarantee that they are the least bit serious about it--would be the worst possible solution for the economy and the environment.

This approach requires many initiatives, likely by three different orders of government, with the associated administrative costs.  And because it does not use market forces to find the lowest-cost emissions reduction opportunities, it is inevitably a higher-cost approach than those based on emissions trading. . . . This option likely also provides the least certainty for meeting a target."

See

http://www.canada.com/technology/Tory+tactics+battle+pollution+choice+government+study/4671986/story.html#ixzz1Kf6RQygQ

Christy Clark Puts Off Green Initiative—For Further Discussion

They were going to join the Governator in California and others in a carbon-trading scheme, but now they say they need further discussion.  The new government of Christy Clark has already found time to endorse an environmentally dubious (“I can see it from space!) open-pit gold and copper mine in the interior which gave even Stephen Harper pause.

But if it’s green, Arnold, and in British Columbia, then it needs further “fulsome discussion.”

And if we’re still talking about it, then we’re not doing it, right, Premier Christy?

See B.C. has become straggler in battle against greenhouse gases - Vancouver Sun

Nature turns mean under climate change

Nature's going to be doing a little thinning out in the coming centuries.

Under climate change nature has already become meaner and tougher, more like the "dog eat dog" parodies of social darwinist propaganda.

Climate change is tipping the Ark and some species are falling out.  Other species dependent on those species are preparing to starve.

Scientists have observed this going on for some time now.  Here's a current story in the news.  (Strong salmon hearts may hedge against climate change-CBC.)

Yep, the story says, some species of salmon with special characteristics allowing them to survive climate change will survive.  Others won't.  In the end there will be fewer species of salmon.  That's not really a victory.