Category Archives: climate crisis

World Burning

climate crisis

This photo, taken two days ago by the MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite, is striking.

Fires in Greece

It never would have occurred to me that wildfires could burn so strongly and become so widespread as to be visible in this much detail from space. The fires in Greece, which we are told were deliberately set, have been fueled by an unusually dry and windy climate. There’s news this morning that the Greek government is taking criticism for not acting soon enough after finding out there was a problem. Now, after at least 63 people have already died, 21 countries are lending their firefighting abilities in an international effort to stop the burning. I’ve had Billy Joel stuck in my head all day.

What They Knew Could Hurt Them

climate crisis, conservative party, economy

The line from the Conservatives is that taking enough action on the climate crisis to avert catastrophe would damage the economy (as if that’s a real choice). Then, two months ago, we found out that their own experts told them that the Green Party’s climate plan would have a negligible effect on the economy, and that they tried to keep that report secret. Today, we find out that their own experts were also telling them that their plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through tax rebates/feebates for new car purchases would be extremely inefficient with taxpayer dollars.

The Globe and Mail reports that a September 2006 report informed the government of the following:

The key findings from the working group are that the cost per tonne of GHGs reduced is high for all options; ranging from $150 per tonne for a permanent incentive that rewards very fuel-efficient vehicles without distinguishing between technology or class; to $2,350 per tonne, for example, for an incentive that differentiates between passenger vehicles and light trucks and expires after four years.

The second option–at a cost of $2,350 per tonne–is more or less what the government introduced in the last budget, and has since been a resounding failure. So, not only did they know that our plan (which, remember, is a tax shift of only $50 per tonne) would succeed in reducing emissions while not harming the economy, they also knew that their plan would be shockingly wasteful and produce mediocre results at best.

At first, I’m tempted to conclude that this government is trying to create economic damage with their climate inaction plan in order to prove themselves right, or even that they’re somewhat sociopathic. But then I’m reminded that I should never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.

Power To Choose

climate crisis, economy, energy

Below (and here) is a video of comments I made a few weeks back at an event called “Power To Choose,” sponsored by the WWF, Greenpeace, the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, Sierra Club of Canada, and the Pembina Institute. I’m honoured to have been one of the five initial presentations chosen for the web, along with people like NDP MPP Peter Tabuns and Gord Miller. Regular readers may notice similarities to two previous posts, The Triple E Crisis, Plus and My Canada Includes The Laws of Thermodynamics.

Hummer vs. Prius, Regulation vs. Market Signals

climate crisis, conservative party, energy

The headline on the front page of today’s Globe, Ottawa can’t shift green rebates into gear, is regrettably predictable. In short, not a single buyer of a 2006 or 2007 eligible model has yet received the rebate they’re entitled to under the ecoAuto program. Further, no one knows what 2008 models are eligible for the rebate (it hasn’t been announced), causing confusion and inconsistency that’s creating a “customer nightmare” and adding “an element of risk to doing business in Canada” according to Honda and DaimlerChrysler, respectively.

What’s worse, these rebates never made sense in the first place. Vehicles were made eligible for rebates based on their class first, and their emissions second. In other words, if you buy an “efficient SUV” you’re eligible for a rebate not available to someone who buys an “inefficient” regular car, even though your SUV emits more carbon emissions.

Add to the mix this confusing column about a study that concluded a Hummer is greener than a Prius, and early-eco-adopters must be ready to throw up their hands in defeat. The study took into account the total “dust to dust” (I prefer “cradle to cradle,” but ok) energy and material inputs for each vehicle, and concluded that a Hummer’s life-time environmental impact is less than that of a Toyota Prius.

Did the study get it right? I doubt it. Others have already pointed out a number of flaws and question marks with the methodology. For example, the study authors arbitrarily assigned the Prius a lifetime of 100,000 miles and the Hummer 300,000 miles (artificially amortizing the embedded energy required for research and production over a much longer period), despite the fact that a Prius will last at least twice as long as that. Not to mention the fact that the study was conducted not by a scientific group, but by a marketing company whose client list includes Chevrolet, a brand of Hummer-manufacturer General Motors. (I’m yet to see that reported anywhere, by the way.)

Why has this report nonetheless garnered so much attention and so little scrutiny outside of the blogosphere? Well, if it were true, wouldn’t it be great to rub it in the face of that treehugging, smug, judgmental Prius-owning neighbour of yours? In some circles, “environmentalist” is still a tainted word, hearkening back to the arrogant, ignorant EPA official in Ghostbusters who almost destroys the whole world with rash actions motivated by his presumed superiority.

And what if, on the other hand, there is some truth to the report? It’s possible. Considering the full life-cycle environmental and energy impacts of everything we make is a very important thing to do, and the results will often surprise us. That’s why it’s sometimes difficult to tackle extremely complex problems through government regulation, and why it would be more effective in this case to harness market tools as well. A carbon tax applied early in the process would help to reveal and deter hidden energy bloat at every stage in the production process.

Government regulation can’t do that. Turns out they can’t even send out a simple cheque.