“Dirty Joe”: Oliver, Oil, & the Science of Politics

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Skid

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Let's get this right, extreme right – according to Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources for Canada, all those climate change scientists and educators are "radicals funded by foreign interests", guilty of "exaggerated rhetoric", who should be "ashamed" of themselves for making "wildly inaccurate and exagerrated comments." So, who are these radical environmentalists?

The targets of his ravings include James Hansen (pre-eminent climate change scientist from Cambridge University), Al Gore (Bush-whacked out of the U.S. presidency, climate change educator and Nobel Prize winner), and probably all of the contributing scientists to the upcoming 5th Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Now he is turning his attention to the European Union for daring to suggest that Alberta bitumen is "dirty oil." Yes, DIRTY OIL, according to the cap and trade, carbon pricing policies of EU Ministers seeking to reduce their carbon footprints and fulfill their Kyoto and Copenhagen commitments. Noble, but not in Canada's economic interests.

Only yesterday, Oliver was attacking the European fuel-quality directive that labelled Canada's bitumen as dirty, claiming the EU draft document was "discriminatory towards Canadian oil and not supported by scientific facts." Discriminating, yes; not supported by science, no. I think it is worth mentionning, according to the most recent IHS CERA (Cambridge Energy Research Associates) reports, that the extraction of oil from bitumen produces 5 -15 times more greehouse gas emissions than conventional oil. So it is, without debate, a "dirtier" oil than conventional oil.

Given that fact, and the overwhelming consensus by climate change scientists that human activities are responsible for the current accelerated rate of climate change, Dirty Joe eloquently responded, "I do not deny the problem, which is a fundamental problem." Really?

Joe, you are full of dilbits.

Yes, there is a problem, alright. To paraphrase Pogo, "We have found the enemy, and it is our Conservative government."

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

Making the World a More Beautiful Place

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Skid

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In the wonderful children's story, Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney, the young heroine declares that when she grows up she wants to be just like her grandfather, whom she adores, and must visit faraway places and live by the sea. Her wise grandfather tells her there is one more thing she must do, the most important: "You must make the world a beautiful place." Young Alice grows up and eventually discovers what she will do to make the world a more beautiful place. And she discovers it right in her own community.

In my community, as in many this spring, volunteers are doing just that with a little spring "house cleaning" for their neighbourhoods.

On Saturday, May 4, our local Tim Hortons and the Stafford family have organized the Caledon Community Clean-Up, to begin at 9:30am at the Caledon Centre for Recreation and Wellness at 14111 Hwy. 50. Participants will be provided with T-shirts, gloves, and collection bags (while quantities last).

My family and I hope to see you there, working together to make our world a more beautiful place.

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

Of Pandas and Pipelines and Profits

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Skid

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Having awakened from my winter hibernation, and ready to tilt at windmills once again, I am greeted by the front page news that our aboriginal peoples have been shuffled to the back of the deck – encore – this time by two adorable pandas from China. It should not have shocked anyone that the Prime Minister chose the Pandas in Toronto over the People in Ottawa. After all, the pandas are the ticket to the Northern Gateway Pipeline and the flow of Alberta bitumen to Chinese refineries. The Nishiyuu Walkers have no economic value to the Harper Government.

Please remember, our Prime Minister is not a statesman, he is a businessman and an accountant. Stephen Harper is the CEO of Corporation Canada and the country is open for business. Had he been a statesman, he and Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe would never have conspired to bring down the Martin government and crush the Kelowna Accord. Had the Kelwona Accord been implemented by the Liberal government of the day, Chief Theresa Spence's hunger strike on Victoria Island, the Idle No More movement, and The Walk from Whapmagoostui would never have taken place.

There is a reason why the World Wildlife Fund chose the panda as its poster animal – it is the most irrestably cute creature on the planet. You could put Kim Jong-un beside a panda cub and his UN ratings would go up. Prime Minister Harper's panda posing is the beginning of a long marketing campaign, sort of a cuter version of the Economic Action Plan commercials, to win the hearts and minds of Canadians over to the joys of doing business with China. And that ultimately leads to the approvals necessary for the Northern Gateway Pipeline and the billions of dollars that will bring to the economy of Alberta.

Next time you go to the zoo, just remember with whom you are doing business.

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

The “Science” of Pipelines

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Skid

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After a summer of traveling north of Superior and visiting my eldest son in South Korea, I returned home to Canada to find that, in the face of increasing opposition, Prime Sinister Stephen Harper had quietly proclaimed that "science" would determine the fate of the Northern Gateway Pipeline.

I wondered for a moment if I had missed a convergence of heavenly bodies and the dawning of a new age. Alas, it turned out to be merely more political greenwash on a done deal. You see, the only science that Mr. Harper has applied to any environmental issue has been the "science" of economics.From the early days when he first took office and shut down the One Tonne Challenge and the Environment Canada website so it could be rewritten in his image, to the current lobbying he is doing on behalf of the oil and gas industry, Stephen has consistently ignored any science other than economics. Continue reading →

TWENTY YEARS LATER – Severn Cullis-Suzuki speaks again

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Skid

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Dedicated to an amazing young woman.

June 11, 2012

It was twenty years ago when I heard a speech that rocked my soul. It was delivered by a 13 year old girl to an audience of the old boy's club at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. I have quoted it in every speaking engagement I have given since that day. It is the most pure and honest appeal for environmental literacy that has ever been spoken. I repeat it here, twenty years later. NOTE: at the next Summit in Africa, Severn walked away from the main conference, ashamed that corporate interests Continue reading →