Erik BJORGAN for Parliament

The numbers say it all: Canada is a climate-change miscreant

by Jeffrey Simpson,

When the Harper government has something it wants everybody to know, it sends the Prime Minister to make an “announcement,” gathers a gaggle of ministers to nod their heads at the words of their sage boss, issues press releases and, if necessary, buys newspaper and television advertising to trumpet itself.

When, however, the news is bad, well, standard procedure is either not to release the information at all, or to post it on a website without
telling anyone, hoping the news will pass unnoticed.

Such was the case this week when quietly, of course, Environment Canada posted on its website the embarrassing news about the government’s expensive and largely futile measures to combat greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/the-numbers-say-it-all-canada-is-a-climate-change-miscreant/article1591592/

Scientist didn’t fake data, report says

Mike De Souza
Canwest News Service

An academic inquiry into the so-called “climategate” e-mail scandal has concluded that a well-known U.S. scientist did not directly or indirectly falsify data in his research.

Report:
http://www.research.psu.edu/orp/Findings_Mann_Inquiry.pdf

The review, by a panel of senior administrators at Pennsylvania State University, found no evidence that climatologist Michael Mann had manipulated research that indicates humans are causing global warming.

However, the panel has recommended further review on questions about whether his conduct had undermined public confidence in his findings as a scientist.

http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=b940becf-3434-4391-9f80-ec3a19485b4f

Contribution by Anne Morris

An independent study recently published in the US-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggests that pollution from Alberta’s oilsands is nearly five times greater than industry figures say and twice as widespread. The study says toxic emissions from the oilsands industry are equal to a major oil spill occurring every year. Government and industry officials say contamination in area soils and rivers is natural, but the study links it firmly to oilsands mining. Read the rest of this entry »

Contribution by Anne Morris.

We don’t hear much about the impact on the planet of war and the billions of dollars it consumes. It’s huge!

During the first 5 years of the US war in Iraq, at least 141 million metric tons of carbon dioxide were produced – the equivalent of putting 25 million more cars on the road in the US in one year. The US war in Iraq emits more CO2 annually than 139 of the world’s nations together. And these emissions are unreported because military emissions abroad are not included in the national greenhouse gas inventories submitted annually by industrialized nations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. For more information, see report by Oil Change International. Read the rest of this entry »

Government regulation another obstacle to alternative energy’s cause

John Morrissy
Financial Post

Despite public support for alternative energy — and the opportunity it presents to replace carbon-based fossil fuels — its progress in Canada is impeded by uncompetitive prices and the lack of clear government policy, accounting firm Ernst &Young said in a report Monday.

“We’ve seen a real willingness from the Canadian public to embrace the virtues of ‘going green,’ but price is still a top consideration,” said Cathy Cobey, Canadian leader for Ernst & Young’s climate change and sustainability practice group.

http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/money/story.html?id=db36887f-5c4e-404e-9865-13ecbd116cad

By Richard Rolke – Vernon Morning Star

Okanagan-Shuswap MP Colin Mayes is fighting off claims he refutes global warming.

Mayes, who returned home from a vacation Monday, says the recent controversy about e-mails he sent out on climate change is misleading. “I didn’t say there wasn’t climate change. Climate change is happening all of the time,” he told The Morning Star. “But the question is global warming and what are the reasons for it. There is a lot of information out there and a lot of conflicting data that needs to be resolved.”

In the e-mails to constituents, Mayes says, “Climate warming is happening. Just what the cause is has yet to be substantiated. Is it CO2 in the atmosphere, sun activity or cyclical? Is this a trend that will change as we have seen recently in cooling of temperatures and rebuilding of ice caps?”

http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/vernonmorningstar/news/80319467.html