Many environmentalists and climate-warming panic artists have bemoaned Stephen Harper’s less than speedy transition to non-carbon sources of power. While there have been some efforts towards wind power (Alberta) and tidal power (New Brunswick) in conversion to electrical energy it is obvious that these efforts, while brave, have minimal effect.
The world’s big carbon emitters are the following (according to The Economist, Aug. 8) in billions of tons per annum:
China 10.3, United States 5.3, India 2.1, Russia 1.8, Japan 1.4, Germany 0.8, South Korea 0.6, Canada 0.6, Brazil 0.5, Indonesia 0.5, Saudi Arabia 0.5, Britain 0.5 and all other sources 10.5.
Obviously, one of the reasons Canada fares so well in this comparison is the extensive use of hydro electric and nuclear sources.
While both China and most recently the US have announced planned efforts to reduce carbon, is it any wonder that Harper has been a skeptic about its puny world effect off a stringent Canadian program when the economic consequence to ordinary Canadians could be economically drastic?
Let’s see the evidence of China, the US, and India’s reductions — the big polluters — before we put our economy, fragile by the oil overproduction of mainly the US and Saudi Arabia, at even more risk than it is now.
Maurice A. Rhodes
Nelson