It's Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change.

This is my blog.

To the Government of Canada,

I live in Canada. I've lived here my whole life. That makes me Canadian, though it's pretty weird when you think about it to identify someone with the place they parachuted into at birth. Nonetheless, consider me Canadian because I vote here.

I have never been particularly impressed with the behaviour of Canadian leaders though they do come out with some reasonable stuff, The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, universal health care and the absence of the death penalty for instance.

I'm embarrassed by our government now. Actually I am horrified. Let me explain.

This thing about climate change, carbon emissions and all that jazz - it's about the science. Get it? It's not about the survival of the Conservative Party of Canada or the continued PM-hood of one Stephen Harper. It's not about upholding the current industrial model which places a per capita carbon footprint on Canadian citizens that is so far above most of the world as to be a catastrophe in the making. .

I don't know which scientists you have been using as advisors, but they are quacks if they are telling you that climate change is a political issue. Or is it that case that you've just been ignoring them?

The pint-sized effort made thus far to control the carbon emission of the nation are in fact treason against the human race if allowed to persist.

I ask you to examine in depth the reasons why so many nations walked out on Canada at the pre-Copenhagen climate negotiations in Bangkok. It was a statement. Did you hear it or just take offence?

If your scientific advisors are not telling you that the Copenhagen Summit is not the most important meeting in the world, dealing with the most important issue on the planet then they are yes men and not telling you what current scientific research says and what thousands of the smartest people on the planet are saying.

Continued use of fossil fuels, continued development of fossil fuel resources, and the development of industry based upon fossil fuels is only justified if and only if there is a massive R&D effort to develop and to implement clean energy sources. Industry can benefit and thrive. Talk to some Europeans who have a measure of this. Canada is being left behind in the green industry revolution.

Yes, it is difficult to accurately model future climate and identify how much time is left before the tipping point - the point at which the jig is really up and there's no turning back no matter what. Most predictions are turning out to be conservative as new evidence comes in. Something to think about ...

Along with climate change there's this nastier business of the acidification of our oceans caused by the absorbtion of C02 into the oceans, leading irrevocably to the death of the ocean ecosystems if it is not checked. Good-bye to ocean life = good-bye us. Oceans produce most of our oxygen. So it's not just a matter of the disappearance of ocean front, low-lying property or the preponderance of hellish weather, drought, flooding and the like. It's about human survival. The survival needs of the Conservative Party of Canada pale.

It's about the survival of so many species it would make your head melt. Check the science. Hear the thoughts of the best scientists alive on the planet. It's an emergency. Most scientists place these catastrophic outcomes into the next few decades, not to the distant future.

PM Harper, I've heard rumours that you aren't going to the Copenhagen Summit. Say it isn't true. By the time another summit rolls around the entire planet might be in such trouble that there'll be no point. It's about the science. Go. Do the right thing.

I'll pay more taxes to save the human race. No problem.

It's not about the economy. It's not about politics. It's not about moving only in lockstep with the USA. It's about the science.

Make us proud.



Yes you.