Earth Day?
Friday, April 21, 2006
It's Earth Day this weekend (April 22nd) - time to ask that thorny question again: How is the earth faring, this fine Year of Our Lord 2006? As has become the norm these past few years, the answer, I'm afraid, is "poorly, and continues poorly, thank you very much for asking. Would you happen to have a spare Gas Mask?". This past year's many natural disasters have illustrated the crisis we are experiencing as a planet: climate change, land degradation, poor environmental planning, bad management of natural resources, poverty, war upon war, new diseases... The list is endless.
From south of the border comes dire news...During his one and a half terms, the current American president has managed not only to start several new wars, but also to effectively dismantle much of that country's environmental legislation. Bush has repeatedly ignored and ridiculed the global scientific consensus on climate change, and has instead increased America's dependence on oil, while lobbying for oil drilling in Alaska's fragile wilderness areas (bordering Canada). Under his watch, America suffered not only one of its worst natural disasters when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans; it also had its first taste of the horrors usually experienced by third world nations, when their own government turned a seemingly blind eye to many of those most stricken (many of those people are still without homes, or jobs, or money, 6 months after the distater...). In the aftermath, it also became clear that the disaster could have been averted, but bad planning, bureaucratic bungling and arrogant leadership prevented it...It's ironic that the US Army Corps of Engineers were responsible for maintainig the doomed Levee system - When will they learn that you cannot fight against nature?
What is happening in Canada, I hear you ask? Well, under a new leader who seems to take his cues from the Bush administration, Canada's environmental problems can only get worse (see news article here). Harper has already made it clear that he will not honor previous commitments to the Kyoto protocol, and has also (like his counterpart down south) started to dismantle many of the previous government's environmental protection measures (like the 1 ton challenge). Some of his actions may have merit, but what is he going to replace it with? He has never stated how his government will reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, or what he will do to protect fragile wilderness areas from over-explotation, or how he will curb the massive Canadian energy consumption - it's easier to cut programs, than to devise new ones, it seems...
Harper's plan is simple: Tell all his conservative MP's to tell their constituents to stop driving SUV's while they admit to the very same people that they drive one because this terrible Canadian weather forces them to.
Harper is a complete idiot. In fact I think he is a cloned Bush with a face transplant.