Extra, Extra! Just announced: Obama is going to the Copenhagan Summit. He's not only going himself, but he's taking a pack of high rankers from the US Government. Is there a clearer message to the US populace and to the world that he can give? Not a this point. This breathes life into the sometimes flagging spirits of the eco-community. Thanks, Buddy.

And then there's the biggest detractor/obstructionist on the planet, our PM Stephen Harper. Will he change his mind and go now? Is he worried that if he does that he will look like a US Puppet? Oh no. Or will he go to shift attention from that pesky Afghan prisoner torture annoyance? What will the man do?

So far the Canadian Government is the biggest defaulter of the Kyoto Accord and has torpedoed efforts to reach the next-stage agreement to be ratified in Copenhagen. The sticky point is this: TAR SANDS.

The tar sands project is a gigantic mistake. It's a greenhouse gas factory on a monumental scale and is therefore a crime. To cancel the tars sands project would be a mighty blow to the national wallet and to the wallets of certain provinces and many citizens. Cleaning up Northern Alberta and the Athabaska watershed would be financially worse than a failed Olympics. That's an almighty drag to be sure. On the other hand, the consequences of escalating atmospheric CO2 levels will render life as we know it obsolete in short order.

The world's climate scientists are in consensus on this, Stephen Harper. Actual scientists who study the actual climate are actually in unison. Rex Murphy is actually not a climate scientist. We have an actual planetary emergency on our hands. Read this, Sir. It came out yesterday. I point this out in case no one told you told you about it — The Copenhagen Diagnosis. Think post-carbon. Think hard.

You have to close down the tar sands. You have to go to Copenhagen. Obama is going. What about you?

Stephen Harper, you are in a pickle. What will you do now?