Wishing you a Happy Earth Day!!!!

Yes, yes, yes, I know what many of you are thinking, Earth Day is not today, but rather it was way back on April 22nd. Well, to some extent you are right, but there are a few things that are worth considering. For starters, I am a firm believer that every day is in fact Earth Day (so I may wish you a Happy Earth Day later on) but my timing was planned. Since today is of course, Mother's Day.

Since I am writing this post very late at night, it may in fact be too late for you to call your mother. However, you can't forget your other mother, the Earth, on this very special day, and since she is all around you, you can always show her that you love her.

I have recently been leading an Environmental Service group at school, and one of the many things that we do is send out weekly e-mails with Eco facts. Here are some of the more interesting ones that we have found:

- During the March 29th, Earth Hour the city of Toronto saved 264 000 000 watts of electricity. That’s enough to run a lap top computer 17 600 000 days or around 48,219 years!!!! (Info courtesy of the World Wildlife Fund and Solar Wind Canada)

- In Canada alone there are over 8 billion disposable cups sent to landfills every year!!!That translates to 15, 220 every MINUTE (that’s not a type-o!!!) (Credit: Go Green Tips in the Toronto Star)

- In the United States approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year (Student Environmental Advisory Counsel)

- Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours (Ibid)

So if you are looking for something to do to help out your Mother on her special day (i.e. every day), it really does not take much effort. Little things like turning off the lights when you aren't using them, walking instead of driving, buying a travel mug, reusing, recycling, and (most importantly) reducing go a long way to helping.

If your biological Mother was sick, and crying out for help, would you ignore her? What if you knew your actions made her this way, would you continue?

Certainly I hope not.

So why is it different for your Earth Mother?

Until next time,

G

P.S. I found this GREAT video on ted.com with Al Gore discussing Climate Change in further detail. Enjoy!

The Attack of the Green Menace

I continue to look back at all that was in 2007 by examining a former vice-president, a catchy pop song and impending doom.



Sure, An Inconvenient Truth came out in 2006, but its message lingered well into 2007. We are in a lot of trouble unless we do something soon. While Gore's message was hardly a new one, scientists have been talking about it for years, something about hearing it from Al Gore seemed to make it click. I'm not sure if it was the fact that Gore's connections with Clinton, his opposition to Bush, or what it could have been, but to many people he was somehow trustworthy.

As a result of this message, the environment has been greatly at the heart of the public conscious this past year. This has led to a change in both political and commercial rhetoric. As many politicians who once considered Global Warming to be a hippie scare tactic have began talking about environmental issues, and many companies are beginning to advertise their products as being environmentally friendly.

Hell, the fear of global warming even showed up in one of the greatest and most ubiquitous songs of the year. If Al Gore didn't get people listening, then Rhianna sure did.

There are of course a variety of questions surrounding this newfound environmental concern. Many environmentalists are concerned about the validity of this concern, as they raise issues of a "green washing" that is currently occurring by many politicians and corporations, as they exaggerate or falsify the environmental benefit of their policies or products. And of course, many other environmentalists see this public debate as being too little, and too late. In their eyes, the type of action required at this point is far too drastic than we are ready, willing or able to do.

But the newly invigorated environmental movement is not all doom and gloom. With the increase in awareness, comes and increase in funding for research into slowing, and potentially reversing the causes of our short-sited, excessive behaviour. People all over the world are looking into some amazing ideas like carbon sequestering, bio-fuels, renewable energy, electric cars, plastic from orange peels, and some other very exciting technologies. People seem to be finally taking this concern seriously as our generation seems to have found its calling. Our grandparents knew that they had a war to fight, our parents knew that they had a war to stop, and here we ("we" being the ones who don't remember the Vietnam war, but remember the first Iraq War) are with our mission, our goal, we have to save humanity from itself. It's going to be a tough one, but I think that we can find a way to do it. In the future when we look back and find our Pearl Harbour, or Walter Cronkite on the evening news, we will look back at An Inconvenient Truth as the moment that we realized that we couldn't ignore this problem anymore, as the moment that we realized that we needed to do something to make this world a better place.

Until next time,

G

Open Letter to the Minister of the Environment

Dear Mr. Baird,

I am writing as one of many Canadians concerned about the state of our planet. Like many others, my eyes have been firmly set on Indonesia as I eagerly await some good news out of the Bali Conference on Climate Change. Like many others, I have been sorely disappointed.

I remember a time in the not-to-distant past that Canada was very well respected on the international stage, fighting so valiantly in the second World War, to establishing the Peacekeepers, to abstaining from the war in Iraq, I have always been proud of my countries actions on the world stage. However, I worry that our days of being internationally respected are nearing an end.

I was deeply saddened, but not the slightest bit surprised, when I read that Canada was listed 53rd out of 56 industrialized countries on a recent ranking. The real shocker of the list, was that we were ranked second to last in terms of government policies. One of the countries, which we were ranked higher than, Australia, recently had a change in government with new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, winning on a green platform. This means that next year, we will fall even further in the rankings, unless you take quick action.

Canada has an opportunity to be a real world leader on the issue, but yet we find ourselves severely lagging. According to 2004 data, Canadians contribute over 20 metric tons of CO2 per capita, making us the 11th worst polluters on the earth.

This is simply unacceptable.

We are a nation with immeasurable natural resources, a true land of plenty. I find it completely unreal to think that somewhere between the huge tides in the Bay of Fundy, the Chinooks of the Rockies, and the arable land of the prairies, that we find ourselves so heavily dependent on fossil fuels. We are in clear possession of the means, and our country is full of the will, we are just lacking one central component, the leadership.

This is where you have failed us, Mr. Baird. You on your fellow Conservatives, have routinely tried to undermine the environmental will of the people, going so far as to call the Kyoto Protocol, a "socialist scheme". This is something that I clearly do not understand. We have very clearly passed the point of denial on this increasingly important issue, and yet here we sit at a crucial juncture in the history of our species, and you seem so very determined to circumvent the process of saving our planet.

While I understand the frustration that comes with the three biggest contributors by volume, the United States, China, and India, not accepting any binding targets, I find it very petty and un-Canadian to only follow rules which other countries agree to follow. Had we taken this stance, our country would not be the great nation that it is today. We stood up to the Nazis three years before the Americans did, and we refused to enter a pointless and unjust war in both Vietnam and now Iraq, despite the actions taken by our neighbours to the south. We do not need to wait for our ubiquitous "Big Brother" to make a step on the path to justice before we do. We are our own nation, full of concerned and caring individuals, who are looking to you, Mr. Baird, to take the first step.

All over the world, there are a variety of very unfortunate individuals who are suffering from the effects our societies affluence. The sea levels are rising, the deserts are expanding, and the world we know is changing very rapidly. Many, many people are in serious jeopardy as a result of this looming catastrophe. As someone standing in the way of positive and meaningful change you must shoulder part of the blame for what is occurring as a result of your inaction.

For every hurricane that batters the Caribbean, you are to blame.
For every flood that strikes the shores of Bangladesh and India, you are to blame.
For every inch of expanding desert, you are to blame.
For every species that is disappears from this planet forever, as a result of a warmer world, you are to blame.
For every polar bear that comes into contact with humans because their habitat is shrinking, you are to blame.
For every child who suffers an asthma attack on a smog day, you are to blame.
For every tropical disease that spreads into temperate regions, you are to blame.
For every single individual who dies as a result of the consequences of global warming, you are to blame.

Mr. Baird, you and many others have the opportunity to make some profound change. I want my children, and grand children to look back the actions of this generation with the same pride and reverence that I am able to look back at the generation of my grand-parents. Right now, though, your actions are making me feel something that I have never felt in all of my life. You are making me feel ashamed to be a Canadian.

Sincerely,

Glen R.

Suzuki Roundup

Last night, I had the distinct pleasure of going with some students into Toronto to listen to a talk by none other than the 5th Greatest Canadian ever, Dr. David Suzuki. Of course, he talked about the environment, focusing on the most pressing issue, Climate Change.

He began the talk by saying that 20 years ago scientists urged immediate action against Climate Change, including a letter signed in 1988 by several influential scientists (including many Nobel Prize winners) saying that we had only 1-2 decades to take immediate drastic action and change the way we live, but yet nothing was done. Also he cited a conversation with then Federal Environmental Minister, Lucien Bouchard, where he said that Global Warming "threatened the survival of our species", but yet nothing was done then. Suzuki claimed to have bittersweet feelings about the public acceptance of the issue, saying that it would have been much better to have happened decades ago.

After the preamble, he got to the real good stuff. He was mentioning time that he spent with aboriginals and things that he learned from them. He mentioned a deep seeded belief in many native cultures that people are made up of the four sacred elements, earth, air, fire, and water.

Water is a pretty obvious connections, since it makes up most of our body. Earth and fire sort of got lumped in together, saying that everything we eat comes from the soil and the sun (fire) and is absorbed directly into our bodies, making us who we are. The one that got me the most though, was his connection to the air.

He broke this belief down into scientific terms, saying that the oxygen that we absorb into our body is metabolized by our cells and becomes a part of who we are. So therefore, anything that we do to the air, we are doing to ourselves. He told a story about going to a hospital in Toronto on a smog alert day and seeing children and seniors struggling with asthma. The people who brought their children or parents into the hospital were panic stricken, and were willing to do anything it took to help their loved one breathe. Dr. Suzuki was amazed that these people who were so concerned about their parent's or children's respiratory health drove to the hospital in SUVs. If they were so willing to do anything to help their loved ones, why would they not reduce the pollutions they were producing? There is a very strong correlation between pollution and asthma, yet people are far too disconnected, even when the cause of their problems are staring them right in the face.

Dr. Suzuki mentioned the research of a scientist, who wanted to track the path of one single breath of air. It was concluded, that if I take a breath of air right now, in one year, after going around the world, I will inhale some of the air that I exhaled right now. In the mean time, it will be inhaled by millions of other people along the way. He mentioned that some of the air that we are breathing in right now was in fact in the lungs of Joan of Arc, Jesus Christ, or the dinosaurs. Pretty cool eh?

So he mentioned then, that if I am the air, and you are the air, what we do to the air, we are doing to ourselves and one another.

Dr. Suzuki, then lambasted political and corporate leaders who he claims are far too short-sighted, focusing on the economy as opposed to the planet. He made a fantastic connection to the American-Soviet Space Race of the 1950s and 60s. In 1957 the Russians launched Sputnik and proceeded to have a series of victories in their space program, such as launching the first dog and the first human into space. The Americans could have easily given up, saying that it was too hard or cost to much. Instead though, they worked very hard and were able to land someone on the moon. It cost a great deal, but the economic benefits, such as our telecommunication systems, were astounding. Dr. Suzuki believes that the same thing can happen as a result of confronting climate change.

All in all, I was incredibly inspired by Dr. Suzuki's talk. He spoke very eloquently and with an incredible amount of conviction. I was inspired to go to his website davidsuzuki.org and take his "Environment Challenge", and I really encourage all of you to as well. It outlines a number of really easy steps that you can take to reduce your environmental footprint and live a greener life. It really is worth looking at, because we may not have a ton more time...

Until next time,

G

Have Your Oil and Eating it Too

hyp·o·crite /ˈhɪpəkrɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hip-uh-krit]

1.	a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

2.	a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.

-- Credit, Dictionary.com

Today Federal Environmental Minister, John Baird, announced that Canada will not withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, just days after the government declared the targets unreasonable in the most recent throne speech.

This is pretty much a polar opposite of Harper's 2004 campaign promise to opt out of Kyoto, and his 2002 letter to supporters where he called Kyoto a "a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations". Now of course in the past few years Al Gore and friends have done a remarkable job of putting the environment higher up on people's consciences, so slamming the only reasonably valid pro-environmental legislation is not the best political move anymore.

This is another fantastic example of Stephen Harper's remarkable ability to speak out of both corners of his mouth. He is a master at keeping his word to the letter, but defying it in spirit. You want us to keep Kyoto? Sure we'll do that! We just won't follow it. You want us to lower the GST? DONE! We'll just raise income taxes so we'll take the same amount of your money! You want us to stay out of Iraq? Anything for you! Only we're going to up our forces in Afghanistan so then the Americans and Brits can send more forces to Iraq. You want us to face up to any allegations of government scandal you report on? That sounds great! But we're just going to limit the amount of contact the media can have with the government so you won't be able to hear about any of it in the first place.

In many ways, this government is like Jafar from Aladdin. Always giving the people exactly what we say we want, just not what we really want. In many ways we've just been teleported underwater to be near a sunken treasure. You know, I'd rather be straight out lied to as opposed to this half-assed attempt at truth.

I don't know if any of you have seen this hilarious video about the adventures of CO2 Man, but I hope you enjoy it, courtesy of the good people at Climate For Change.




Until next time,

G

It Ain't Easy Being Green - Take 2 - The Environment

How many of you intentionally throw your recyclables into the garbage?
How many of you leave your lights on all day and night?
How many of you drive an SUV?

Hopefully you all said no to those above questions. We are clearly in a difficult time when it comes to the environment. With rapidly rising temperatures and rapidly shrinking icecaps, there is simply no denying anymore that the world is getting warmer, and it would take a fool to think that it does not have something to do with the pollution we are producing.

This is why I hope that all of you have some concern for the environment and are making an effort to recycle, turn off your lights and choose fuel efficient methods of transportation. But what if I told you that what the vast majority of you are eating was doing worse things for our planet than any SUV or discarded pop can?

In a 2006 report, the UN concluded that livestock is doing more to accelerate global warming then all forms of transportation combined.

I'll give you a minute to chew on that...It doesn't matter if you decide to walk or drive a hybrid car to work, if you are eating a steak or drinking a glass of milk when you get home then you are completely undoing any of your environmental good will.

The report states:

When emissions from land use and land use change are included, the livestock sector accounts for 9 percent of CO2 deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases. It generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CO2. Most of this comes from manure.

And it accounts for respectively 37 percent of all human-induced methane (23 times as warming as CO2), which is largely produced by the digestive system of ruminants, and 64 percent of ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain.

-- "Livestock a Major Threat to Environment", November, 29, 2006

In addition to being a huge contributor to Global Warming, there are many other important environmental hazards associated with the livestock industry, and the vast majority of them are directly related to the waste produced by the livestock themselves.

There is little to no regulation in the United States for the treatment and disposal of animal feces and urine, large amounts of it end up in our rivers and streams. This has been wrecking havoc on the fish population of the world. In the Gulf of Mexico, there is a "Dead Zone", an area in which the vast majority of sea animals and plants have died. A 2006 study by Princeton concluded that run off from manure was a major contributor to this area, which is currently half the size of Maryland. Ohh and remember, if fish drink the contaminated water and you eat the contaminated fish (or eat something that has eaten that contaminated fish) then it will end up in your body, one way or another.

In places where there are regulations against polluting the water with animal manure, there is still a threat to people's air. Many farmers spray liquid manure into the air, which in turn gets inhaled...charming thought, I know. The California State Senate recently did a study on the issue and stated: “Studies have shown that [animal waste] lagoons emit toxic airborne chemicals that can cause inflammatory, immune, irritation and neurochemical problems in humans.” If it is doing that to us, imagine what it is doing to the wildlife in the area or the environment all around us?

Additional polluters from the livestock industry come from the additional transportation and harvesting that needs to be done for the food of the livestock, but that will be the topic for the next edition of "It Ain't Easy Being Green", when I discuss wasted resources.

While I realize that you may not be directly harming the environment by eating meat, but every time you use your money to purchase some animal products you are financially supporting those who are damaging our environment. This makes you just as responsible.

So if you can't afford a hybrid car anytime soon, I am sure that you can all afford to buy a salad instead of a steak. Mother nature will thank you.

Until next time,

G

Take 1 - Pacifism
Take 2 - The Environment
Take 3 - Pesticides, and Poo, and Pus, Oh My!
Take 4 - Distribution of Resources

The Green Pope

Cruising along on this wonderful thing called the Internet, I found an interesting little ditty about our current Pope, Benedict XVI. In April, there are plans for the Pope to make his first visit to the United Nations.

While this in and of itself is not particularly note worth to me, his planned topic blows my mind. Is he going to talk about the evils of gay marriage and evolution? Ohh no, he plans on talking about climate change. That's right, the man who many people deemed too conservative to be Pope - and think about that, it's not like the Catholic Church is the most liberal of organizations - is going to take a progressive stance on an incredibly important issue.

The higher ups in the Church claim that we are "stewards of creation" and have a responsibility to save the planet from potential catastrophe. As such he will make action against climate change a moral obligation for all billion or so Catholics out there. Not only are they talking the talk, but they are walking the walk, as the Vatican City is the first, and only, carbon neutral nation in the world. Sure they are tiny and don't exactly have factories or a lot of cars, but it is still impressive.

May I just point out that the Pope is now more liberal, modern, and in touch with current concerns than many of the worlds leading political and economic figures. Think about that for a second, right now the head of an organization that thinks birth control, homosexuals, and Charles Darwin are the spawn of Satan is more modern than Stephen Harper and George Bush, who are still waiting for "more evidence".

I hope that after this announcement other Catholic Churches will follow the lead of the Vatican by also going carbon neutral in their business, and maybe, just maybe, can inspire their believers to do the same. What makes this extra promising is that the majority of Catholics live in developed, and therefore polluting, nations.

Perhaps, if we are lucky still, that other churches will follow the Vatican's lead and start addressing climate change as a serious moral concern of theirs and people of all faiths will start to actually take this thing seriously, because we don't have a ton of time.

From the Inquisition to The Troubles, there is a lot that can be said for the actions of men in the name of God. This time, however, the pious and the agnostic can come together and support the steps Benedict XVI is making, because whether you believe God made this earth or not, we all need to believe that he is not going to help us now. We can only help ourselves.

Until next time,

G

Budgetary Concerns

Yesterday the Conservative Government announced their budget, and boy what an interesting one that was. In my various political rants, I think that I have made my opinions/biases to be perfectly clear. I am on the left side of things, and as a result I tend to disagree with just about everything that the ruling party does, yesterday was no exception.


Before I get too critical, I need to say that there are some things about this budget that I do like. The first being the tax break for hybrid cars and the tax hike for fuel inefficient vehicles. Although one must be cynical as to why pickup trucks are immune to this...funny from a party that draws a lot of support from rural voters. I do also like the $1 million set aside for heritage sports, one of those nice little things that can do a bit to help our culture and our health. And I do like increase in scholarships for graduate students.

There I was positive, can I move on now?

While the "green levy" is a great step it is not nearly enough. In recent months Harper has talked a really good game about the environment, but once again he showed his true colours on the issue and they certainly are not green.

There was $4 billion promised for environmental issues including ethanol production. That sounds all well and good, but the government also got rid of a tax break for ethanol that was costing them $2 billion. Sounds like a lot more Harper smoke and mirrors.

Most importantly there is no targets for reducing green house gases. I don't know if any of you know this, but that is kind of a big deal right now. There really was no "massive scale-up" as called for by Johanne Gelinas (the former environmental commissioner who was fired without a real reason by the Conservatives a few months ago). This both scares and saddens me. As a world leader we have a huge chance to set the stage and at least keep pace with our European Allies if not set the standard, but alas here we are.

I still don't like this cash in hand for anyone with a kid business. I would much rather see the money go towards a nationalized day care program. Why you ask? Because I worry about the bad parents out there. While I do not doubt that the vast majority of parents out there will spent this money on their children in some capacity, whether it is feeding them, clothing them, hiring a babysitter, or even sending them to day care, but there are those out there that will not. Bad parents will more than likely spend that money on themselves, leaving their children alone. In the case of drug addicted parents, this extra money can fuel their addiction even more and in fact make the lives of their children even worse.

I know, I know, that is only a small minority and many of you are probably saying "Why should good parents suffer for the bad ones?", well if you have worked with enough children of bad parents like I have than you will understand that answer to that one.

A full comprehensive and effective day care strategy is the best answer. Sure it is not perfect, sure there is a lot of work that needs to be done, including a proper training program, but it is what is needed.

My last major concern with the budget is the Aboriginal Issue. The Conservative Government has MASSIVELY failed the Aboriginal Community. One of Paul Martin's last acts as PM was to pledge $5 billion to relieving Native poverty, something that hasn't quite fit into the Conservative vision of the country.

They have set out a "new approach" to help the Aboriginal Population. That is to encourage them to get out of poverty by offering job training and providing financial incentives for home ownership. I have a real problem with this. For starters, to "encourage" people to get out of poverty makes it sound like people choose to be poor, I don't know if I can even comment on that one without going off on a serious rant so I will bite my tongue (or is it hold my fingers?). Secondly, home ownership doesn't really work on reserves. Remember in many native ideologies the people do not own the land. It is all collective property of the reserves stemming from the ancient beliefs that people can not own land, it belong to everyone. So how exactly is this going to work?

We Canadians need to realize something. We are one of the richest countries in the world and yet a sizable portion of our population lives in third world conditions. We need to do something about it, soon. This is not the answer, it is not nearly enough. It is a huge black eye for all Canadians but is constantly swept under the rug and just plain accepted. Shame on all of us for allowing it to get to this stage.

But anyway, despite the problems that the Liberals and NDP have with this budget it will still pass. The Conservatives also changed the equalization formula which will really hurt Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, the two poorest provinces in Confederation. But they managed to find an extra $9 billion for Quebec. Funny that they need the support of the Bloc to avoid an election...and they call the Liberals crooked.

Until next time,

G

And the Counter Attack Begins...

Well in my last post, I talked about the Conservatives attack against Stephane Dion's environmental record. Well the Liberals have responded, although far less blatantly. They have released a letter that Mr. Harper sent to supporters in 2002 when he was leader of the now defunct Canadian Alliance.

A lot of news sources have been putting out excerpts of the article. But typically quotes get taken out of context and made to look much worse than they actually are (i.e. the Conservative attack ads). So I decided to post the entire letter right here. Enjoy!!!

Dear Friend,

We’re on a roll, folks!

The Canadian Alliance is once again setting the agenda in the House of Commons. Look at what happened in less than two months since Parliament reopened:

— We bagged another Liberal cabinet minister when we drove the hapless Lawrence MacAulay to resign for violating the ethics guidelines.

— We broke Jean Chrétien’s chokehold on the House of Commons by getting the election of committee chairs and votes on all private members’ bills.

— We finally (!) got the Liberals to agree to set up a national registry for sex offenders.

But we can’t just relax and declare victory. We’re gearing up for the biggest struggle our party has faced since you entrusted me with the leadership. I’m talking about the “battle of Kyoto” — our campaign to block the job-killing, economy-destroying Kyoto Accord.

It would take more than one letter to explain what’s wrong with Kyoto, but here are a few facts about this so-called “Accord”:

— It’s based on tentative and contradictory scientific evidence about climate trends.

— It focuses on carbon dioxide, which is essential to life, rather than upon pollutants.

— Canada is the only country in the world required to make significant cuts in emissions. Third World countries are exempt, the Europeans get credit for shutting down inefficient Soviet-era industries, and no country in the Western hemisphere except Canada is signing.

— Implementing Kyoto will cripple the oil and gas industry, which is essential to the economies of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

— As the effects trickle through other industries, workers and consumers everywhere in Canada will lose. THERE ARE NO CANADIAN WINNERS UNDER THE KYOTO ACCORD.

— The only winners will be countries such as Russia, India, and China, from which Canada will have to buy “emissions credits.” Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations.

— On top of all this, Kyoto will not even reduce greenhouse gases. By encouraging transfer of industrial production to Third World countries where emissions standards are more relaxed, it will almost certainly increase emissions on a global scale.

For a long time, the Canadian Alliance stood virtually alone in opposing the Kyoto Accord, as Bob Mills, our senior environment critic, waged a valiant battle against it. Now, however, allies are stepping forward — eight of 10 provincial governments, and a broad coalition of businesses across Canada — to help us fight the ``battle of Kyoto.”

Jean Chrétien says he will introduce a resolution to ratify Kyoto into Parliament and get it passed before Christmas. We will do everything we can to stop him there, but he might get it passed with the help of the socialists in the NDP and the separatists in the BQ.

But the “battle of Kyoto” is just beginning. Ratification is merely symbolic; Kyoto will not take effect unless and until it is implemented by legislation. We will go to the wall to stop that legislation and at that point we will be on much stronger procedural ground than in trying to block a mere resolution.

The Reform Party defeated the Charlottetown Accord in an epic struggle in the fall of 1992. Now the Canadian Alliance is leading the battle against the Kyoto Accord!

But we can’t do it alone. It will take an army of Canadians to beat Kyoto, just as it did to beat Charlottetown.

We can’t stop Kyoto just in Parliament. We need your help at all levels. We need you to inform yourself about Kyoto, to discuss it with your friends and neighbours, and to write protest letters to newspapers and the government.

And, yes, we need your gifts of money. The “battle of Kyoto” is going to lead directly into the next election. We need your contribution of $500, or $250, or $100, or whatever you can afford, to help us drive the Liberals from power.

Yours truly,

Stephen Harper, MP

Leader of the Opposition

PS: The “battle of Kyoto” shows why the Canadian Alliance is so important to you and to Canada. All the other federal parties are supporting Kyoto (Liberals, NDP, BQ) or speaking out of both sides of their mouth (Tories). Only the Canadian Alliance is strong and fearless enough to block dangerous and destructive schemes like the Charlottetown Accord and the Kyoto Accord.

My favourite part is the quote "It focuses on carbon dioxide, which is essential to life, rather than upon pollutants", clearly we are led by a man of science and reason...

Alrightie I figure this is enough right there, you all know my opinion on Harper and on Global Warming. No point in repeating myself here. Just wanted to let you all see something really important.

Until next time,

G