Fire and distraction

European countries have already successfully engaged in rapid reductions in their carbon emissions, and are reaping economic rewards for doing so. Canada should join them.

by James Lindfield

The couple making love on the public beach near my son and I, at Kootenay Lake one afternoon last summer, blissfully ignored smoke and the distant sound of helicopters from the forest fires on the mountains above them. So too are we in Canada and the US paying minimal attention to the gathering storm of heat, fires and floods around us.

I listened with disbelief as Kelowna residents were reassured that the forest fires in 2003 were a unique once-in-400 years event. In contrast, a European insurance company (CGNU) report estimated that by the year 2065 the costs of damage from climate change could exceed the world's gross domestic product.

Speaking in 2000, the author of the report said "Property damage is rising very rapidly, at something like 10 percent a year. . . . We've still not yet really begun to see the effects of climate change in the West . . . but once this thing begins to happen, it will accelerate extremely rapidly."

In 2002, the Hadley Centre for Climate Change in the UK released research that showed that climate change was accelerating faster than they had previously predicted. As carbon emissions continue to rise, average temperature is projected to increase by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius over the next 100 years.

The events of last summer, in which wild fires consumed more than five million acres of forest in the US and Canada, and over 22,000 people died from heat related causes in Europe and India, are similar to the kinds of events predicted by their models.

With few exceptions, the world's climatologists now agree that the increase in temperatures are a result of the increase in carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, from increasing fossil fuel consumption. Glaciers, permafrost and polar ice caps are melting, and droughts, floods and more extreme storms are occurring more frequently in many parts of the world. The China Daily reports that by mid-century two thirds of China's glaciers may be gone, putting 300 million people at risk. In 2003, higher-than-usual temperatures in Europe, India, America, and Canada have damaged grain harvests resulting in very low stocks of grain. Increased temperatures are implicated in a range of disease outbreaks, infestations of pine bark beetles and other insects, and negative effects experienced by fish stocks.

But there is a curious North American media silence about both the extent of the estimated temperature rise and its connection to the rise in emissions from fossil fuels. There is a concerted effort by corporations, led by the US $2 trillion oil, coal and gas industries, to target environmentalists and create confusion concerning the causes of climate change. "To put the environmental lobby out of business. . . there is no greater imperative. . . if the petroleum industry is to survive. It must render the environmental lobby superfluous, an anachronism," wrote Bob Williams, an oil and gas industry consultant.

As a result, conservative foundations have poured money into "ad campaigns, lawsuits, elections, and books, and articles protesting big government. . . and blaming environmentalists for all the nations' ills," wrote Kirkpatrick Sale. A leaked 2002 email revealed that White House officials wanted to play down an Environmental Protection Agency report that human activity was contributing to climate change. The email also discussed getting rid of EPA officials, including its then-head Christine Todd Whitman.

Whitman was replaced by a candidate chosen by Exxon Mobil, and references in the EPA report to climate change were removed from the EPA website.

Greenpeace has consistently attempted to bring attention to climate change and specifically targeted Exxon Mobil for its opposition to addressing climate change. In a move that had the potential to destroy or severely limit Greenpeace, the US government took it to court under an obscure 1872 law on piracy.

The 2,000 member UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that carbon emission cuts of between 60-80% are necessary to stabilize average temperatures. In light of this, Canadian media attention to the arguments about the Kyoto treaty (which calls for a 5.2% reduction in carbon emissions below 1990 level) appear to serve as a distraction to maintain the status quo. Several countries have already committed themselves to substantially reducing their emissions within the next 50 years. These countries include Holland (80% reduction in 40 years), Germany (50% reduction in 50 years), and the UK (60% reduction in 50 years). Denmark has a thriving billion-dollar industry in wind generation. India now has the world's third largest solar panel industry. In France and Spain, inventor Guy Negre has developed a range of vehicles that run on compressed air (top speed 130km/hr, range 350 kms) and is currently developing an air-powered bus capable of carrying 135 people at minimal cost.

In Europe, investment in renewable energy is being stimulated by a range of consistent policies, legislative change, tax credits, and government loans. Germany pays renewable energy producers above-market rates in recognition of the environmental costs of conventional fuels. Between 1990 and 2002, Germany has reduced emissions by 19%, with the creation of an estimated 445,000 jobs in renewable energy.

In contrast, in North America the transnational fossil fuel industry receives government subsidies of $25 billion (in the US) and $1.3 billion (in Canada). Renewable energy companies get $12 million a year in Canada.

Oil company Exxon spent millions of dollars to ensure that President Bush came to power and Vice President Cheney drew US $153,000 in deferred salary in 2003 from Haliburton, the world's largest oil company. The US currently has to import 50% of its oil, and world supplies are becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive to extract.

The desperation of the US for control of the world's oil supply is shown by the number of oil producing countries that it is attempting to control through force or subversion including, but not limited to, Iraq, Venezuela, Columbia. Nigeria, and Uzbekistan.

Some US states have already decided to reduce their emissions independent of the federal government. One study estimated that wind energy alone in three states-North Dakota, Texas and Kansas-could provide almost 100% of the electricity required by the US. The city of Toronto has reduced its carbon emissions by 42% and Vancouver has recently announced a carbon emissions reduction program.

In order to achieve 60% to 80% cuts in emissions, the people of the wealthy nations will need to make a radical economic reorientation. This will include redirecting subsidies away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, curtailing the power of the transnational corporations and their co-opting of the democratic process, putting pressure on every level of government to develop carbon emission reductions, reordering trade to prioritize local food and production, and providing a per capita carbon emission allowance for both north and south countries.

The examples from other countries show that shifting to renewable energy provides great economic opportunities. Either we begin to rapidly undertake a reduction in carbon emissions, or as Eduardo Galiano wrote recently, the Earth will soon resemble the pictures from Mars.

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