Rising temperatures, rising tensions

AFP:  Climate Change a new factor in global tensions
With both the oil shortage and climate change crises worsening before our eyes, there are plenty of new reasons on the table for international war and conflict.   This is one reason why the smugness of some countries — Canada included — is greatly misguided.  Some cynics say Canada will have a net benefit from a warmer climate, and I suspect that our slow response to the problem is at least partially due to this attitude.  Warmer winters, more agriculture, what’s not to like, right?  The problem is, Canada does not exist in a vaccuum, and even friends can rapidly turn to enemies in a desperate situation.  Clearly the time to resolve climate change issues peacefully and sensibly is rapidly running out.

Confirming the obvious

Toronto Star: Tories flunk green audit
An auditor confirmed today what most people already knew:  Canada’s conservative government has an abysmal record in almost every aspect of environmental protection.   They outright flunked in 9 of 14 areas, and this article doesn’t even mention the devastation of the Alberta Oil Sands.  In all, this is an embarrassment for Canada.  It is inexcusable that one of the world’s wealthiest nations does so little to protect the very land from which we have derived most of our wealth.

Fighting for their right to pollute

MSNBC: Tighten smog rules? Industry fights proposal
As the US government prepares to introduce new tougher limits on smog emissions, various industries are actively fighting back.  As usual, they argue that making the required changes will cost money and hurt the economy.  Health experts point out that thousands of lives would be spared and millions of dollars saved on health care and missed days of productivity.  If it was terrorists killing thousands of Americans each year instead of smog, you can bet the problem would be taken slightly more seriously.

Cold War v2.0: Oil & Gas Edition

Financial Times: Gazprom steps up Ukraine gas war
Russia is reducing natural gas supplies to Ukraine, claiming that the country has not paid its bills. Ukraine claims it is trying to negotiate but Russia is not responding. Because crucial gas pipelines between Central Asia and Europe pass through Ukraine, the EU is alarmed, and shortages could soon spread. It is unfortunate that we now find that much of Europe’s energy stability in the hands of Russia, a country with a freshly entrenched dictator who is delighting in the renewed power oil wealth brings his nation after a decade of humiliating poverty.

Pollution needs no travel visa

Telegraph: China’s pollution closes South Korea schools
Having one country’s environmental recklessness affect another is nothing new (North Americans drive SUVs which contribute to the droughts that kill millions of Saharan Africans; US rust belt auto manufacturing creates acid rain that falls on Canada) but this is a new one: this week, dust storms laced with toxic pollution blew from China into South Korea, forcing them to close schools and alter their lifestyles. Yet another potential cause for future wars?

A false economy

Toronto Star:  Cheap salt outweighs green concerns
Our government in Toronto talks a good talk when it comes to greening, but their walk is not so effective.  Here again is a perfect example of false economy:  the use of environmentally damaging salt on the roads because it is “cheaper” even when many less toxic options exist.  In reality, of course, all that damage to our trees, plants, vegetation, rivers, lakes, animals and groundwater is immeasurably expensive.  But those don’t count, right?

Alberta’s tentative greens

Toronto Star: Albertans looking a little Green
Even in the midst of Alberta’s oil sands windfall, some Albertans are beginning to have reservations about whether the profits are worth destroying the province’s natural resources.  For some, this is even shaking their longstanding support for the federal Conservative party.

No winners in water fight

MSNBC: Feds say Southern water-sharing talks failed
A decades-long battle between Alabama, Georgia and Florida over water resources has come to a head as all three states suffer through the worst drought in their collective history.  Negotiations have failed, and the US federal government is now going to impose a solution.