Canada Backs Out of Kyoto Protocol
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by: RogerFrost | Total views: 25 | Word Count: 391
Canada has shunned it commitment to reducing Greenhouse gas omissions and pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol which it had signed previously. This did not come as a surprise to most people as Canada as been steadily increasing it Greenhouse gas omissions almost from the day it signed the accord.
All the major countries except for the United States ratified the Kyoto Protocol which had set targets in reducing Greenhouse Gas omissions based on the 1990 emission levels established by the Protocol. Canada will now be seen as shirking its duties as a developed country who should be a "role model" instead of a "misbehaving child".
Canada has managed to increase its Greenhouse emissions by a whopping 17% while our European partners have manage to decrease their emissions by 17%. This would indicate that reducing emissions is possible but that Canada lacks the political will to do so.
As Alberta oil sands development steps up, Canada's emission numbers will only get worse, as separating the oil from the sands requires tremendous amounts of energy. Big business controls what and how the government does business and the Canadian government has turned its back on global cooperation.
The Harper Conservative government has done little to reduce emissions, in fact they have shelved programs like the EnerGuide home retrofitting program which had its unfortunate beginning as a Liberal program. The concervatives Clean Air Act had no merit and as some like to say, was "Dead on Arrival".
Last year, a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel - a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009, according to estimates from the IEA regarded as the gold standard for emissions data. According to figures from the international community our emissions are ever increasing. Even this recession has not slowed down the increasing pollution of the world we live in. A temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius - which scientists say is the threshold for potentially "dangerous climate change" maybe just a pipe dream as we blow by that bench mark following our Governments failure to act and the ability of big business to prevent any significant reductions. The Alberta Tar Sands will probably end up being the future generations "Poster Child" as the symbol of greed of a few, overcoming the "needs of the many."
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