Editor:
The good news this week was that Elizabeth May was voted back as Leader of the Green Party of Canada, with her running mate and soon to be co-leader, Jonathan Pednault, championing the global climate crisis as their key issue.
The bad news is that the United Nations COP 27 climate conference only adopted a futile band-aid approach to the cataclysmic climate calamity we are fast-tracking towards: a commitment by first world and petro-states like Canada to fund third world countries for the damages they’re suffering from increased floods, droughts, and extreme weather resulting from their flagrant use of fossil fuels that is causing the climate crisis.
Regrettably, COP 27 failed to deal with the root of the problem: the continued and increasing use of fossil fuels. It could not find agreement on the only real solution: capping and then rapidly replacing fossil fuel production with renewable and close-to-carbon-free energy such as solar, wind, and geothermal.
Canada is one of the world’s worst climate hypocrites. We talk about reducing GHGs while increasing our exploitation of tar sands, offshore oil, and natural gas reserves. Our GHG emissions are going up instead of down.
Canada’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, ex-Greenpeacer Steven Guilbeault said it would take Canada another year just to establish a cap on our production and expansion of oil and gas exploitation. What an embarrassment. What a tragedy.
Guilbeault now joins fellow ex-Greenpeacer Patrick Moore as an eco-Judas. His betrayal means it will likely be too late to save our country and planet from irreversible climate collapse.
Paul George, OBC, Gibsons
