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| mtl.general | Ahh Montreal, home of good strip joints | 39,416 messages |
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| Harper's own department warns of inactio |
| 01 Jul 14 21:23:15 |
XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics XPost: ont.politics, sk.politics, man.politics From: "@nyet.ca This is pretty damned bad. Harper and his flunkies have purposely turned a blind eye on the problems we're encountering due to climate change. Now one of his major government ministries - the Natural Resources Department - has criticized the government for inaction on problems they know/knew about, related to climate change. And look at how many 'authors and reviewers' are involved in that report. Is he going to fire all of them? Muzzle all of them? Ignore all of them? Good luck to that, Mr Harper. No one is more aware of the looming 2015 election date than you and your party. This is going to be a major issue for that election. The ball is now in your court, Harper Cons . . . . ______________________________________ Published: Monday, 06/30/2014 12:00 am EDT Natural Resources’ sweeping report warns feds of increasing climate change, urges action A new report from the government’s own Natural Resources Department on climate change adaptation released last week shows a growing recognition of the need to adapt to a changing climate but also highlights the gap between the research and the political action, critics and experts say. The report, Canada in a Changing Climate: Sector Perspectives on Impacts and Adaptation, was written by 90 authors, 115 expert reviewers, and synthesized more than 1,500 recent publications. It looks at natural resources, food production, industry, biodiversity, protected areas, human health, and water and transportation. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ “There is clearly a pretty big space between what the research and what experts are telling us about what’s going on and the political commitment on the part of governments and parties across the country to say, ‘This is real, we’ve got to do something about it,’” said David McLaughlin, former executive director of the National Roundtable on the Economy and the Environment, which the government cut in 2012. “This at least helps to advance the knowledge.” In the report, posted without fanfare on the Department of Natural Resources website June 24, departmental researchers said the climate is changing — in fact it’s in the first sentence. The average temperature in Canada rose 1.5 C between 1950 and 2010, it says. “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to lessen the magnitude and rate of climate change, but additional impacts are unavoidable, even with aggressive global mitigation efforts, due to inertia in the climate system,” the report says. “Therefore, we also need to adapt.” The report describes a number of impacts expected to come with climate change, including threats to biodiversity, the spread of diseases like Lyme disease and health effects from air pollution, and more extreme heat and extreme rainfall, meaning more droughts, floods and wildfires. It also outlines impacts on industries, including a lack of predictability for farmers, shorter snow seasons for winter tourism, and shifting flow patterns for hydroelectricity. It is an update to the department’s 2008 assessment and says adaptation has been occurring since then. However, barriers to action include “limited resources, limited motivation and issues related to governance.” Experiencing extreme weather events will stimulate adaptation, it said, but leadership and supportive policies “can help accelerate the transition between awareness and action.” “Adaptation implementation in Canada is still in its early stages,” the report says. “Planning and policy exercises, and efforts to build capacity and raise awareness comprise much of the adaptation action documented, with relatively few documented examples of implementation of specific changes to reduce vulnerability to future climate change, or take advantage of potential opportunities.” ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Mr. McLaughlin, a former chief of staff to prime minister Brian Mulroney and to Jim Flaherty at Finance, said the report won’t spur action on its own, but it effectively outlines “the public face of climate change”—the storm surges, infrastructure degradation, pests, floods and droughts. “When we as human beings see something that’s real, we respond. It may be, at the end of the day, we’re going to have to see the impacts happening more and more before we take this on board, but at least this report reminds us that it’s coming, it’s real, and we should start to prepare for it, and we should start to adapt,” he said. The Insurance Bureau of Canada has been an industry leader in pushing for adaptation policies. Robert Tremblay, the bureau’s director of research, said the report is different from previous ones because it outlines the changes to Canada’s climate that have already been observed. “Climate is no longer stable and we have observed changes over the past 10, 15, 20 years,” he said in an interview. “That, essentially, sets the stage to say, ‘Yes, it is a reality, yes it changing.’ Now do we know for sure where it’s heading? No, nobody knows. But we do know that it’s no longer stable.” The discourse around adaptation is new, he said, long overshadowed by talk of emissions reductions, but that’s changing as the effects become more evident. The report supports what the insurance industry’s been saying, he said. “It does support the position that our industry has had for a long time that we are going to need to start adapting to the realities of our changing climate, particularly in the area of urban drainage systems,” he said in an interview. Total insurance claims related to catastrophic weather events in Canada have surpassed $1-billion dollars in every year since 2009, the IBC reports, and last year flooding in Calgary ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ and two costly storms in Toronto contributed to $3.2-billion in insurance claims by Canadian property owners. The bureau has also found that the value of total insurance claims related to weather events has increased 40 fold between 1983 and 2013, with damaged basements from backed-up sewers the most common claims. In 2011, the National Round Table on the Environment and Economy published a report on the long-term implications of extreme weather events related to climate change estimating that climate change could cost the Canadian economy $5-billion by 2020, with costs surpassing [continued in next message] --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2) |
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