Climate Change Is Not A Problem

From the Interior of British Columbia:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_thompson_nicola/kamloopsthisweek/news/80932482.html

It was too hot and too dry in the summer and a year of extremes,” said David Phillips, a senior climatologist for Environment Canada, summing up the year in weather in Kamloops.  The total amount of precipitation — rain and snow — for 2009 reached 184.7 millimetres, nearly a third less than the normal 279 millimetres that falls on an annual basis. If the summer seemed extremely hot — well, it was.  The city recorded an astounding 52 days in which the temperature reached 30 C or higher during the months of June, July and August.  Kamloops normally gets 30 hot days in that three-month span.

From the World Bank:
http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTWDRS/EXTWDR2010/0,,menuPK:5287748~pagePK:64167702~piPK:64167676~theSitePK:5287741,00.html

The effects of climate change are already visible in higher average air and ocean temperatures....and many other regions have seen more freqeuent and intense droughts.

But climate change is not a problem.....

David Suzuki Said...in the Georgia Straight

http://www.straight.com/article-279599/vancouver/david-suzuki-imagine-brighter-21st-century

In imagining a better future, we must open ourselves to the idea of change. And we’d do well to remember that people with vision have been overturning outmoded ways of thinking and acting throughout our brief history on this Earth—often in the face of great resistance. It wasn’t long ago that people in countries such as the U.S. believed slavery was an economic necessity and that abolishing it would destroy the economy and way of life of its “free” citizens.  We really do have to think big—to imagine what a future that offers the most good to the most people and to all life on this planet would look like. Obviously, reducing poverty, conflict, and human-rights abuses is paramount. Environmental problems exacerbate those issues and so must also be dealt with.

We have a choice: we can deal with climate change now or we can procrastinate until we are forced to deal with the effects of climate change.  Which path gives us more control over the kind of future we want? Which way lets us create an egalitarian, sustainable, life and happiness enhancing future?

The Idea of Justice

I finished reading The Idea of Justice, by Amartya Sen,  last weekend.  He is not focussed on ideal  and unrealizable theories of perfect  justice, but instead, on how we can reduce injustice in the world we live in.

In Chapter 6, he dissects global justice. 

There is clearly an important issue in the neglect of the interests and perspectives of those who are not parties to the social contract or polity but who bear some of the consequences of decisions taken in that particular polity.....

(That certainly describes the citizens of the developing world who will, according to the World Bank, suffer most of the consequences of climate change while causing very little of it to date.) In Chapter 16, he links democracy, justice, and  public discussion and reasoning.  He states that

It is hard to escape the general conclusion that economic performance, social opportunity, political voice and public reasoning are all deeply inter related.  ....Democratic feedom can certainly be used to enhance social justice and a better and fairer politics.  The process, however, is not automatic amd requires activism on the part of politically engaged citizens.

In Chapter 18, he makes the point that, although a global state and democracy are  impossible to achieve, activists who agitate for better global conditions do

ask very relevant questions and thus contribute constructively to public reasoning.....Active public agitation, new commentary and open discussion are among the ways in which global democracy can be pursued.

I conclude that environmental activists and agitators are not only saving the environment but creating a more inclusive democracy through questioning the status quo - or greenhouse gas emissions as usual.  Climate change activists press us to think about the future.  The subtext to their message  is that we, the ciitzens,  must become more engaged in politics  and more willing to question and constrain elites. 

A Case to Watch

http://environmentalappealscourt.blogspot.com/2009/10/comer-v-murphy-oil-usa.html

In the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, Case No. 07-60756. This case represents another major decision regarding citizen enforcement, utilizing common-law actions and seeking damages resulting from corporate greenhouse gas emissions. ....the plaintiffs, residents and owners of lands and property along the Mississippi Gulf coast, filed this putative class action in the district court against the named defendants, corporations that have principal offices in other states but are doing business in Mississippi. The plaintiffs allege that defendants’ operation of energy, fossil fuels, and chemical industries in the United States caused the emission of greenhouse gasses that contributed to global warming, viz., the increase in global surface air and water temperatures, that in turn caused a rise in sea levels and added to the ferocity of Hurricane Katrina, which combined to destroy the plaintiffs’ private property, as well as public property useful to them.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/think-globally-take-legal-action-locally/article1417786/

Those cases have been remanded for further proceedings. But the rulings have paved the way for climate change litigation in the U.S. - and possibly in Canada.  Most provinces track the big emitters of greenhouse gases. Starting this month in British Columbia, industries emitting more than 10,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year will be required to report annually.
A list like that would give litigants a place to start when deciding who to blame for damages caused by climate change.

I'm quite sure the companies mining the tar sands in Alberta are watching this closely.  Very closely ....and worrying at night.  After all, a paper published in the (peer-reviewed) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes that  "oil sands development is a greater source of contamination than previously realized."  Best study tort law on those sleepless nights .....

News - Good From My Perspective

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010689013_rainiergravel04m.html

The fallout from Mount Rainier's shrinking glaciers is beginning to roll downhill, and nowhere is the impact more striking than on the volcano's west side.  Inside park boundaries, rivers choked with gravel are threatening to spill across roads, bump up against the bottom of bridges and flood the historic complex at Longmire. Downstream, communities in King and Pierce counties are casting a wary eye at the volcano in their backyard. There are already signs that riverbeds near Auburn and Puyallup are rising. As glaciers continue to pull back, the result could be increased flood danger across the Puget Sound lowlands for decades.  Climate experts blame global warming, triggered by emissions from industries and cars, for much of the ongoing retreat of glaciers worldwide.  North Cascades National Park has lost half of its ice area in the past century. Mount Rainier's glaciers have shrunk by more than a quarter.

Why is this good news from my twisted perspective?  Firstly , because the problems are in North American territory - right in our back yards.   In my opinion, it gets harder to deny the reality of climate change  when glacial till released by climate change is flooding your home.   And I am very happy that the Seattle Times names global warming as the culprit for the same reason.  I hope this will motivate people to press their Senator, their Congressperson, thier MLA, or their MP to take action on climate change.

Urban Agriculture

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/growing-an-urban-revolution/article1416414/

Mr. Teulon  has 65 raised beds on top of the Freesia condo tower on Seymour Street, after he was asked to take over the unused space, along with gardens that he farms in 13 other single-family yards near his house near 21st and Fraser streets on Vancouver's east side.  Mr. Teulon and four other friends who also do urban farming are now planning to add a five-acre piece of Richmond land to their agriculture empire so they can expand their operations even more.  That expansion of Mr. Teulon's for-profit operation parallels the explosion of interest in community gardens, farmer's markets and local-food diets that has emerged in the past few years.  But experts say his type of operation has more potential to make a significant difference in local food production than the popular, but mostly hobby-oriented community gardens, especially if cities start using their land and buildings more creatively.  The rule of thumb in the urban-ag world is that one person can comfortably farm 2.5 acres, which is enough to provide 100 people with fresh produce. And, when you look around, there is space everywhere.

More good news: we are going to need local food badly when peak oil makes imports  too expensive and greenhouse gas emissions are verboten. Pressure your local city: ask them to allow and encourage urban agriculture on rooftops and in backyards.  Green roofs not only supply us with food: they reduce energy consumption, help control stormwater runoff, and reduce the urban heat island effect.  They also create green space.

Good News For A Change

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/03/european-unites-renewable-energy-supergrid

Europe's first electricity grid dedicated to renewable power will become a political reality this month, as nine countries formally draw up plans to link their clean energy projects around the North Sea.  It would connect turbines off the wind-lashed north coast of Scotland with Germany's vast arrays of solar panels, and join the power of waves crashing on to the Belgian and Danish coasts with the hydro-electric dams nestled in Norway's fjords.

The network, made up of thousands of kilometres of highly efficient undersea cables that could cost up to €30bn (£26.5bn), would solve one of the biggest criticisms faced by renewable power – that unpredictable weather means it is unreliable.  With a renewables supergrid, electricity can be supplied across the continent from wherever the wind is blowing, the sun is shining or the waves are crashing.

Good news for a change:  governments with the acumen and political will to prepare for a low carbon future.  I am going to email the Canadian Prime Minister (again) and bring this Northern European example to his attention.  I wil also email the Premier of this povince as a renewable energy super grid may be something the members of the Western Climate Initiativewill be interested in.