Be wary of the hefty price tag associated with green politics

 

 
 
 

The Canadian contingent at the recent Copenhagen summit twice received the dubious "dinosaur" award for its perceived lack of support for fossil fuel reduction plans and carbon emission formulas.

Canada's fossil fuel energy resources, particularly as they are held in the Albertan oil sands, are valued commodities that need to be leveraged carefully.

A wholesale dive in to the "renewable" energy hype that has been rammed down the European Union's (EU) throat for years by environmentalists and "green" NGOs would prove perilous for our citizenry.

For many years now, the EU has been pressuring the North American economy to join the multi-trillion dollar crapshoot that is carbon offset trading. This new commodity, or currency, depending on how you look at it, suggests we abandon our traditional economies to "save the planet."

The fact the Copenhagen summit failed in its goals should tell us there is something fatally flawed with the process as it has evolved over the years.

The Kyoto continuum has been designed to shelter us from the imminent doom associated with flooding, terrible hurricanes, droughts and countless other "man-made" disasters, including the extinction of polar bears and many other species.

It appears Jacob Brownoski was on to something when the scientist and author said, "No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power."

Green politics and power in Germany, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the EU have managed to take a stranglehold on the "renewable energy" agenda and are trying their best to force feed Canadians to buy in.

This past Tuesday a member of the Green UK Fiscal Fund Commission managed to find some editorial space in the Vancouver Sun. How did he get there? Relentless pressure, that's how. The title of the piece was "Global lessons in building a low carbon economy."

How is the UK doing in this regard? They are on the verge of going broke, that is how well they are doing. How is that for a lesson?

The UK parliament has bought in to the idea they are going to use wind power to replace coal-fired and other hydro plants. Gordon Brown's government has discussed plans to build 6,000-plus wind turbines at the rate of one a day to achieve the EU's target for the UK of reaching 32 per cent of its energy requirements through renewables. The cost, even though this is regarded as an engineering impossibility, is around $200 billion. How would you like an increase in your tax bill to cover that number?

In the same edition of the Vancouver Sun, Green Party Canada leader Elizabeth May was published in a letter to the editor in which she spews typical green-speak: "...action is urgently needed to arrest the rise in greenhouse gases before we unleash forces that could lead to a nine metre sea-level rise for Canada..."

This rise is approximately 8.5 metres above and beyond what the once respected IPCC recently projected for global sea level rise.

Maybe May should move to the UK. She would certainly fit in.

There is no doubt individuals and governments need to do their part. However, Canada looks better as a dinosaur than a lemming.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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