The Wonderful World of Climate Change
Well, there's definitely been plenty of hot air over the past few days. Paul Martin, the poster boy of "Canadian values", decided to criticize the United States for failing to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol. Let me say first that I am no fan of this agreement and in fact, I think it's quite useless. Kyoto is a farce, allowing big time polluters (including Canada) to buy emissions credits just to make sure that they fall under the limits. Even more ridiculous is the idea that developing countries such as China don't really have to worry about their emissions at all. After all, we wouldn't want to jeopardize one's economy for the sake of the environment. Come on people.... use your heads!
There may be those who would wonder why Mr. Martin felt it was necessary to take this recent shot at the Bush administration. Probably for the same reason that a lot of other Canadians do: it's the popular thing to do. You don't just see this with the Libs, you see it everywhere. I spent the last two and a half years on campus at the U of A where there is no shortage of students who aren't afraid to tell you that they think the United States, and particularly George 'Dubya' Bush, is a waste of time and the source of all that is wrong with this world. I tend to disagree, usually putting me in the minority of my student peers.
I don't always agree with American actions but I do get a little fed up with all this whining about how bad they are and how good we are. Frankly, we have just as many things to be ashamed about here in Canada but no one really seems to care about that. While I'm on climate change, does any average Canadian really care that our emissions have skyrocketed in the past decade, or that we continue to be one of the largest consumers of non-renewable energy in the world? People go into a frenzy when they see rising gas costs but yet they have no problem driving their SUV, all by themselves, over to the next block to pick up their groceries. I think that too many of us fail to see that we're doing more than our share to be environmental slobs. Heck, half the students at the U of A can't even pick up their garbage after they leave their table or seat. Before we get all uppety about how bad the Americans are, we had better have the sense to look around at what we're doing right here.
There may be those who would wonder why Mr. Martin felt it was necessary to take this recent shot at the Bush administration. Probably for the same reason that a lot of other Canadians do: it's the popular thing to do. You don't just see this with the Libs, you see it everywhere. I spent the last two and a half years on campus at the U of A where there is no shortage of students who aren't afraid to tell you that they think the United States, and particularly George 'Dubya' Bush, is a waste of time and the source of all that is wrong with this world. I tend to disagree, usually putting me in the minority of my student peers.
I don't always agree with American actions but I do get a little fed up with all this whining about how bad they are and how good we are. Frankly, we have just as many things to be ashamed about here in Canada but no one really seems to care about that. While I'm on climate change, does any average Canadian really care that our emissions have skyrocketed in the past decade, or that we continue to be one of the largest consumers of non-renewable energy in the world? People go into a frenzy when they see rising gas costs but yet they have no problem driving their SUV, all by themselves, over to the next block to pick up their groceries. I think that too many of us fail to see that we're doing more than our share to be environmental slobs. Heck, half the students at the U of A can't even pick up their garbage after they leave their table or seat. Before we get all uppety about how bad the Americans are, we had better have the sense to look around at what we're doing right here.
posted by Jason at 10:24 p.m.
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