There is a postcard from Fort McMurray in my Brazilian hostel that shows a giant earth mover and excavator pulling up bitumen from Alberta's tar sands.
Hanging in the kitchen, it is a perfect allegory for something I am realizing more and more each day: no matter how far I travel, the long shadow of the tar sands doesn't seem to be far away.
Here in Rio the oily footprints are all over, from the conference centre to the hotels, and all the way to that tiny postcard.
I'm not surprised to find out that Canada is promoting the tar sands here, after all, they have a long and marked history of using these conferences to promote and defend the image of the tar sands abroad. Documents obtained by a number of journalists have shown that Canada's strategy at these events is driven by this objective, and last year Peter Kent said outright that he was heading to Durban, South Africa to "defend the oil sands". This time around, Canada's lead negotiator Keith Christie is the same foreign affairs deputy that emailed his colleagues in support of their doing "God's work" in promoting and defending this extreme extraction abroad.
It might not be surprising, but that doesn't mean it isn't wrong.
Rio+20 is a conference on sustainable development and the environment, and no matter how you slice it, sustainability means ending our planet's dependency on fossil fuels. It means transitioning to a green, clean and just economy, and that means creating a just transition out of the tar sands, just as it means getting off coal, gas and other fossil energy sources, especially unconventional and dangerous forms like tar sands, shale gas, shale oil and mountain top removal coal.
Unfortunately, Canada doesn't seem to realize this. They are standing in the way of some of the simplest and most basic commitments, like ending fossil fuel subsidies, that our planet desperately needs, again they are putting the interests of big polluters ahead of people.
Frankly I think I've stopped being angry, nowadays I'm just disappointed.
Canada could be a global leader in clean energy, and in doing so create thousands of green jobs and a dynamic green economy from coast to coast. Instead they have dug in to defend one energy source that as the rest of the world moves forward building a sustainable future will be left behind. Canada is gambling on a lose-lose situation, betting that the world will not rise to the challenge of addressing climate change.
If we continue with all our eggs in the tar sands basket and the rest of world does make that transition to a clean, just and sustainable future we'll be left with a massive, unconventional, high carbon oil reserve that no one wants to buy. Think it can't happen? It already is as places like the European Union debate eliminating fuels like tar sands. The other option is that the planet doesn't deal with climate change, and that Canada is left holding the bag when history looks to cast blame.
Neither are very good prospects for us, and I would imagine that no Members of Parliament, no matter what their party, want to be known as the government that caused them.
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Robert Redford: Stop Public Handouts to Oil, Gas and Coal Companies, Now
Take this quote for example " and that means creating a just transition out of the tar sands, "
Atotally green energy world is very far away , and may never be fully realized. Meanwhile fossil fuels are in increasing demand across the world. Canada has the 3rd. largest reserves in the world, thanks to the oilsands. Does anyone seriously believe that such a massive economic reserve will be left in the ground. Of course not. It's the federal government's responsibililty to ensure the resource is developed, and that's exactly what they intend to do. So, Mr. Fenton, get off your cloud and enter the real world. Rio is a joke and a complete waste of time , for all involved.
As below ground resources were ceded to provincial jurisdiction, it is the provincial government's mandate to develop the resource. It is the federal government's mandate to ensure that cross-boundary issues (like pipelines) are developed in the public interest (not necessarily industry's)
There is only one reason why everyone is piling into the oilsands
The federal governments' highest responsibility is promoting the health and future prospects of all Canadian - and global citizens. In peddling an obselete technology Harper's reality-challenged somnambulists guarantee Canada's place near the back of the pack.
http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2012/02/monitoring-environmental-impact-of.html
We should be investing in greener options continuously through the next half millenium to find better options then what we are currently doing, and I guess this is what Cameron is getting at.
We in Canada should be demanding our government to get a bigger piece of the royalty pie so we may invest in these greener and non-Co2 emmitting options, so we don't use up all the oil from the tar sands and pollute our water,air and forests.
What color is the sky on your planet ?
Show us the way - what country has created "thousands of green jobs and a dynamic green economy from coast to coast " .Canada is responsible for 2-3 % of all global emissions ( Wikipedia) so there are many other countries that have a much more intense responsibility for having a " dynamic green economy " including the U.S., China, and India
This attacking of the Oilsands to the distraction of all other more serious global contributors shows either a profound lack of understanding of global facts or an established paid program of confrontation bent on solely stopping the Oilsands for purely global corporate reasons.
Mr. Fenton may yell in objection but there are far too many paid anti-Oilsands lobbyists who use the shroud of environmentalism to forward a foreign corporate agenda.
Still not sure what Green energy is. Is it Solar? (no Green way to make panels) Wind? (No Green way to make wind generators). Hydro ?(Flooding is so Green). Must be Nukes and the light bulbs that need Hazimat suits to clean up.
For your second point, I'll assume your stat is correct (although I wonder if that would include the emissions from the use of tarsands oil by the States). Regardless, I have 3 responses. 1) 2-3% of global emissions is incredibly high for a country that only has 33 million people (i.e 0.48% of global population). 2) Don't try to change the subject by casting blame or whine about what other countries are doing. They're wrong doings are not in our scope of control, but we can control what our country does. Thus, Canadians should be critical of the tarsands and fight through the propaganda that we're exposed to in our media (for example the sickening pro-tarsands commercials we had to sit through during the hockey playoffs). 3) The real devil of the tarsands is the destruction of Albertan waterways and land. They're strip mining for Oil and creating massive Lake-sized tailing ponds. Look up the Sidney tar pits and how much it cost us to clean those up. The Albertan tarsands clean up could bankrupt the country.
tbc
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/andrew-weaver/the-alberta-tar-sands-and_b_1288264.html?ref=canada
"The Albertan tarsands clean up could bankrupt the country. "
No , it won't because the oil companies are required by law to remediate their holdings and they are spending billions doing just that.
http://business.financialpost.com/2011/07/30/a-tale-of-cleaner-tailings/?__lsa=3e38a6df
"Canadians should be critical of the tarsands and fight through the propaganda that we're exposed to in our media ..."
I suppose information from one side is propaganda and info from the other is what ? ...words from God ?
As for Germany's green economy , it's doing great ...as long as it's heavily subsidized .
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP_Eye_watering_cost_of_renewable_revolution_2301121.html