Rainforests are some of the absolute most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. As such, they are also some of the most delicately balanced. Intact untouched rainforests are becoming increasingly rare, and are being destroyed for human development at a fantastic rate. They are incredibly important to the Earth's climate, as major sources of water and rain, oxygen, carbon dioxide sequestration, and habitat for countless species.
This video is available on youtube in HD. When I post it in HD on here though, the window is ridiculously huge.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
I'm the worst blogger in the world
SO as an environmental student, my good intentions of spreading my learnings through this blog have really amounted to nothing much; especially since there's so much of it that I can't possibly blog enough to get it all down. It's finals now, and I'm super pressed to study and write more papers. I think I will procrastinate a bit more though, and post something here.
The world Climate Conference is underway again in Mexico. I've been taking Climate Systems this semester, and have learned an incredible amount about the science of the Earth's climate and how it works, how it has changed over time, and the current state of climate change. As I have maintained on here, the climate is indeed warming drastically at an unprecedented rate, due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. According to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Canada's annual carbon dioxide emissions is about 17 metric tons per capita.
Which is all just the tip of the iceberg - literally. The whole system is vast and complex, and the crisis is far greater than most people believe.
Canada won the "Fossil of the Year" award at the Copenhagen climate conference at the end of 2009, because a) we are the only country which signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol and has completely reneged on our committment to those targets; b) instead of actually setting real mitigation goals, Canada has instead invested heavily in the Alberta Tar Sands, the military, and expansion of extractive industries (especially mining, oil, shale, and natural gas).
According to Postmedia News, documents have leaked that expose that Canada’s oilsands strategy includes lobbying against global-warming measures.
“There are states, there are regions, there are countries in this world that are trying to make progress to deal with the problem of climate change, and our government is actually trying to stand in their way,” said Graham Saul, executive director of Climate Action Network, which represents environmental, labour and faith-based groups concerned about global warming.
“(Canada has) actually created a monster that’s going into other countries and trying to undermine clean-energy and climate-change policy and that’s totally inexcusable and it’s outrageous.”
The Alberta Tar Sands are seriously the largest and dirtiest industrial project in all of history. Some things you should know about the Alberta Tar Sands:
there are ongoing conflicting stories about the environmental impacts of the whole deal. If you consult the Alberta government, the Federal government, or the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, there is absolutely nothing negative going on, the carbon emissions are being safely sequestered, the scientists are working hard to maintain the ecology, we're extracting oil responsibly, safely and sustainably and we'll mitigate our carbon emissions all in good time.
Here's what they would have you believe:
http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OilSands/791.asp
http://www.capp.ca/oilsands/Pages/default.aspx#13quuW6aFz7a
Here's the other side of the debate:
Climate and Capitalism: The Facts About the Alberta Tar Sands
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/01/alberta_tar_san.php
http://www.tarsandswatch.org/
http://forestethics.org/tar-sands
The fact is though that this gigantic exercise in greed isn't going to stop unless the people stop it.
I helped petition people to pass the Climate Change Accoutability Act through the House of Commons. Canadians enthusiastically voted it in.
Then the conservative - corporate agenda played a dirty move. They called a Senate meeting in the middle of the night without telling the opposition (effectively making it a secret Senate meeting) where they voted on the bill and defeated it. Which is a flagrant assault on the principles of democracy, which most Canadians don't seem to realize have been under attack throughout all of Stephen Harper's administration. And/or they don't appreciate how important democratic accountability is.
As Natural Resources Canada policy adviser Paul Khanna wrote, “The activities of the oil sands sector has emerged as one of the high priority files for the federal government.” Other communiqués from the leaked documents stress the need for campaign strategies against “well-orchestrated media campaigns” against the oilsands as well as “restrictive legislative and regulatory proposals that associate oil sands with ‘dirty oil.’”
“Some (environmental groups) have targeted oil sands in proactive, well financed and well organized ‘dirty oil’ campaigns.”
Damn right; that`s what I`m trying to do right now.
One of the things that is imperative is to voice your concern/opposition. Many people say you can take action by writing letters and emails to officials, and it often seems like a useless measure. However, it is possibly one of the most important things we can do. Well organized and extremely prolific writing campaigns and such have turned the tides for issues in the past; the people have the power to change things in the world, and if enough people voice their dissent enough to this government for long enough, then they can't ignore us.
Large scale public and political mobilizations in Canada have been seriously lacking these days, as everyone sits back and thinks that something should be done but "what can I do?", and then go back to youtubing their favourite celebrities. As a result, our country is going down the tubes; our rights are being eroded, our political consciousness and involvement is seriously waning, and money and power is increasingly in the hands of the few and the corrupt.
If we want this to change, then action is what is needed. There're many things we can do, but we should also at the same time still be writing as many letters and emails to as many prominent officials as possible (after exams, though).
My favourite place to go for Tar Sands action is the Polaris Institute's TARNATION. The Polaris Institute is a Candian organization that was formed in 1997 in response to its view that citizens were becoming politically disenfranchised in an age of corporate driven globalization; specifically in response to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1989 and the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994.
Its stated goal is "to help empower citizen movements towards democratic social change".
I think I've taken long enough to do this for now. I really should be studying for finals.
Peace be with you.
The world Climate Conference is underway again in Mexico. I've been taking Climate Systems this semester, and have learned an incredible amount about the science of the Earth's climate and how it works, how it has changed over time, and the current state of climate change. As I have maintained on here, the climate is indeed warming drastically at an unprecedented rate, due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases. According to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Canada's annual carbon dioxide emissions is about 17 metric tons per capita.
Which is all just the tip of the iceberg - literally. The whole system is vast and complex, and the crisis is far greater than most people believe.
Canada won the "Fossil of the Year" award at the Copenhagen climate conference at the end of 2009, because a) we are the only country which signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol and has completely reneged on our committment to those targets; b) instead of actually setting real mitigation goals, Canada has instead invested heavily in the Alberta Tar Sands, the military, and expansion of extractive industries (especially mining, oil, shale, and natural gas).
According to Postmedia News, documents have leaked that expose that Canada’s oilsands strategy includes lobbying against global-warming measures.
“There are states, there are regions, there are countries in this world that are trying to make progress to deal with the problem of climate change, and our government is actually trying to stand in their way,” said Graham Saul, executive director of Climate Action Network, which represents environmental, labour and faith-based groups concerned about global warming.
“(Canada has) actually created a monster that’s going into other countries and trying to undermine clean-energy and climate-change policy and that’s totally inexcusable and it’s outrageous.”
The Alberta Tar Sands are seriously the largest and dirtiest industrial project in all of history. Some things you should know about the Alberta Tar Sands: there are ongoing conflicting stories about the environmental impacts of the whole deal. If you consult the Alberta government, the Federal government, or the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, there is absolutely nothing negative going on, the carbon emissions are being safely sequestered, the scientists are working hard to maintain the ecology, we're extracting oil responsibly, safely and sustainably and we'll mitigate our carbon emissions all in good time.
Here's what they would have you believe:
http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OilSands/791.asp
http://www.capp.ca/oilsands/Pages/default.aspx#13quuW6aFz7a
Here's the other side of the debate:
Climate and Capitalism: The Facts About the Alberta Tar Sands
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/01/alberta_tar_san.php
http://www.tarsandswatch.org/
http://forestethics.org/tar-sands
The fact is though that this gigantic exercise in greed isn't going to stop unless the people stop it.
I helped petition people to pass the Climate Change Accoutability Act through the House of Commons. Canadians enthusiastically voted it in.
Then the conservative - corporate agenda played a dirty move. They called a Senate meeting in the middle of the night without telling the opposition (effectively making it a secret Senate meeting) where they voted on the bill and defeated it. Which is a flagrant assault on the principles of democracy, which most Canadians don't seem to realize have been under attack throughout all of Stephen Harper's administration. And/or they don't appreciate how important democratic accountability is.
As Natural Resources Canada policy adviser Paul Khanna wrote, “The activities of the oil sands sector has emerged as one of the high priority files for the federal government.” Other communiqués from the leaked documents stress the need for campaign strategies against “well-orchestrated media campaigns” against the oilsands as well as “restrictive legislative and regulatory proposals that associate oil sands with ‘dirty oil.’”
“Some (environmental groups) have targeted oil sands in proactive, well financed and well organized ‘dirty oil’ campaigns.”
Damn right; that`s what I`m trying to do right now.
One of the things that is imperative is to voice your concern/opposition. Many people say you can take action by writing letters and emails to officials, and it often seems like a useless measure. However, it is possibly one of the most important things we can do. Well organized and extremely prolific writing campaigns and such have turned the tides for issues in the past; the people have the power to change things in the world, and if enough people voice their dissent enough to this government for long enough, then they can't ignore us.
Large scale public and political mobilizations in Canada have been seriously lacking these days, as everyone sits back and thinks that something should be done but "what can I do?", and then go back to youtubing their favourite celebrities. As a result, our country is going down the tubes; our rights are being eroded, our political consciousness and involvement is seriously waning, and money and power is increasingly in the hands of the few and the corrupt.
If we want this to change, then action is what is needed. There're many things we can do, but we should also at the same time still be writing as many letters and emails to as many prominent officials as possible (after exams, though).
My favourite place to go for Tar Sands action is the Polaris Institute's TARNATION. The Polaris Institute is a Candian organization that was formed in 1997 in response to its view that citizens were becoming politically disenfranchised in an age of corporate driven globalization; specifically in response to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1989 and the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994.
Its stated goal is "to help empower citizen movements towards democratic social change".
I think I've taken long enough to do this for now. I really should be studying for finals.
Peace be with you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)