"Make no mistake about it -- global warming is a reality. The debate is over," Martin declared. "(Kyoto) will work. It has to work. Kyoto is just the beginning. We need much, much deeper reductions." (emphasis mine.)
Martin is essentially admitting that for him and his environmentalist cohorts simply enacting the Kyoto Accord won't be enough. That's only step one.
They are already clamouring for a Kyoto II, and then it will be a Kyoto III.
And this reflects the problem of environmentalism as a political movement: there is no end game, no point at which the environment will ever really be safe from the threat of industrial society.
4 comments:
I think Kyoto targets maybe unrealistic, but we should try to get as close as possible. In addition over the next 50 years, the reductions will have to much greater than Kyoto Protocol. This doesn't have to bad news necessarily. It means changing our lifestyles and if done gradually enough we will adjust just fine. Adjusting to the negative effects of climate change will be more difficult.
Miles,
Canada accounts for 2% of global emissions and this number is declining (thanks to a growing China and E. Asia). That's right - 2%.
If we increase our current emissions by 200%, the Earth will be 2% worse off. That's roughly another 30 years of economic growth foregone for the sake of the environment to make us 1% safer.
It's pretty clear why Kyoto is a stupid idea.
What idiots actually believe that we can do anything about climate change?
Climate change has been happening one way or the other for more years than we've been around.
I'm a Kyoto denier. We signed on with no intention of doing anything.....typically Liberal.
Ace - Canada cannot make a difference in absolute numbers, but we can set an example. The United States, Russia, China, and India need to make reductions for there to be an effect and we have no right to ask them to do so until we do our part.
Anonymous - climate change does occur naturally, but the rate of change is far beyond natural occurrance. Besides the negative effects of doing nothing far exceed the potential negative effects of doing something.
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