Neither Canada nor the world can afford growth of dirty oil
OPS_admin | Dec 08, 2009 | Comments 0
Today in Copenhagen, the Harper government will walk into the UN climate summit not with the intention of transitioning Canada into a clean energy economy, but instead with the agenda of prolonging the oil industry frenzy in the tar sands in northern Alberta.
It is crunch time to stabilize the climate so that our children inherit a safe world. Scientists tell us there is no more room in the atmosphere for the heat-trapping gasses that result from our burning of fossil fuels, and that we must in fact reduce the concentrations of those gasses if we want some measure of security.
Into this historic moment steps the tar-sands industry, on the one hand breathless when describing the hundreds of billions of barrels of oil it could potentially get out of the ground, while on the other pleading to be seen as a minor global warming villain. But you cannot have it both ways.
The current estimate of recoverable oil from the tar sands is 175 billion barrels, which if processed and burned amounts to over 110 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This alone, if it happened quickly, is enough to increase global concentrations of heat-trapping gasses to levels that scientists consider more than dangerous.
Full Story Neither Canada nor the world can afford growth of dirty oil – thestar.com.
Filed Under: Energy
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If we don't change our ways soon...
A new report by the Royal Society, chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston warns that world population must be stabilized and consumption in wealthy nations must be reduced or the entire planet is in big trouble. As the report reads: "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future."This is the same warning that President Jimmy Carter gave Americans back in the 1970's - but it was ignored when Ronald Reagan came to power with a "more positive" message basically telling Americans we can do whatever we want. And then after 9/11 - Bush told us all we should go shopping and consume ever more.And now with corporations calling the shots in Washington - long-term sustainability of the planet takes a back seat to short-term profits. If we don't change our ways soon - and embrace clean, alternative energy and educate women around the plant - then we all could be headed for a rough century.-Thom(Is there any chance we will learn in time? Tell us here.) -
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