TO COP OUT, or NOT TO COP OUT
Thursday, November 4, 2021
I’ve been reading a lot lately. I expect everyone has – about climate change, COP26, political volleys of fact laced with metaphors, opinions with shaky supporting evidence, and recognition that the media don’t know or understand the issues.
Politicians, unsurprisingly, only want to educate the media when they find it in their best/convenient interest to do so or when their mood du jour is timed/orchestrated with moral outrage.
Mr. Kenney is interested in distraction politics right now. And using Ottawa or anyone named Trudeau as a punching bag never grows old in Alberta. He announced $176.0 million on ‘great funding for climate game-changing initiatives,’ coincident with the start of COP26 – the conference he didn’t send anyone to attend. And, while announcing that funding, he bashed the prime minister for unilateral actions/statements of what Canada will commit to (seriously, like him or not, he’s our prime minister – so making those kinds of policy commitments to other countries is both his job and within his authority; he doesn’t need to consult with anyone. But Mr. Kenny knows it’s good domestic politics to poop on the PM’s shoes – but it seems disingenuous when he didn’t offer/heap praise on Ottawa and the PM because $50.0 million of that announcement was Ottawa funding – so it seems there is consultation after all).
The planet is vast, and its atmosphere thin. It seems simpler these days to convince an anti-vaxxer to put on a mask than to get anyone on the climate debate to look at the other side’s arguments objectively. Instead, doomsday-view folks would grind our planet to a halt if all their wishes were granted. The ‘it’s not as bad as you think camp’ are stubborn and pig-headed too. The capitalist driving forces need revenue from customers who survive and thrive on a livable planet.
The Ottawa v. Alberta rhetoric seems to have little chest-thumping reserved for the countries most responsible and conveniently absent from G20 and COP26 meetings – the Russians, the Chinese, and India. They could argue that they’ve been overwhelmed by COVID and many other perils, but so have we all.
In Alberta, our energy industry is focused on more responsible production and processing of oil and natural gas than anywhere on the planet – so maybe our environmental activists should shift their focus to argue that China and India should keep their fossil fuels (coal) in the ground.
Perhaps they should argue that Russian should keep their oil in the ground. Maybe they could take a balanced view and use our country’s considerable diplomatic credentials for climate’s good. Yes, we’ll all cheer the ‘untangling’ for relations with China, Korea, and the U.S. to ‘free the two Michaels’ … and I’m glad they’re back on Canadian soil …
We can, and sometimes should tilt at windmills.
But seriously, are we tilting the right way or the right windmills.
Speaking of which, what are the Dutch folk up to lately? Do they heat their homes? Do they build taller dikes?
Reader feedback:
Morning Mark, Well as anyone in supply chain and transportation will tell you, signs offer guidance or an expectation around compliance. If the signs confuse they will be ignored. I drove into a town where the municipal WELCOME sign was right above the DO NOT ENTER. I drove on, JR, Calgary, AB
Very inspiring! Wonderful way to start the day!, KF, Calgary, AB
You are awesome!, AG, Cancun, Mex.