XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics, sk.politics, man.politics   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   Addressing global warming is an economic necessity   
      
      
   Oil sands   
      
   Those who don't outright deny the existence of human-caused global   
   warming often argue we can't or shouldn't do anything about it because   
   it would be too costly.   
      
   Take Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who recently said, "No matter what   
   they say, no country is going to take actions that are going to   
   deliberately destroy jobs and growth in their country."   
      
   But in failing to act on global warming, many leaders are putting jobs   
   and economic prosperity at risk, according to recent studies.   
      
   It's suicidal, both economically and literally, to focus on the fossil   
   fuel industry's limited, short-term economic benefits at the expense of   
   long-term prosperity, human health and the natural systems, plants and   
   animals that make our well-being and survival possible.  Those who   
   refuse to take climate change seriously are subjecting us to enormous   
   economic risks and foregoing the numerous benefits that solutions would   
   bring.   
      
   The World Bank — hardly a radical organization — is behind one study.   
   While still viewing the problem and solutions through the lens of   
   outmoded economic thinking, its report demolishes arguments made by the   
   likes of Stephen Harper.   
      
   "Climate change poses a severe risk to global economic stability," said   
   World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim in a news release, adding, "We   
   believe it's possible to reduce emissions and deliver jobs and economic   
   opportunity, while also cutting health care and energy costs."   
      
   Risky Business, a report by prominent U.S. Republicans and Democrats,   
   concludes, "The U.S. economy faces significant risks from unmitigated   
   climate change," especially in coastal regions and agricultural areas.   
      
   We're making the same mistake with climate change we made leading to the   
   economic meltdown of 2008, according to Henry Paulson, who served as   
   treasury secretary under George W. Bush and sponsored the U.S.   
   bipartisan report with former hedge fund executive Thomas Steyer and   
   former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.   
      
   "But climate change is a more intractable problem," he argued in the New   
   York Times. "That means the decisions we're making today — to continue   
   along a path that's almost entirely carbon-dependent — are locking us in   
   for long-term consequences that we will not be able to change but only   
   adapt to, at enormous cost."   
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   Both studies recommend carbon pricing as one method to address the   
   climate crisis, with the World Bank arguing for "regulations, taxes, and   
   incentives to stimulate a shift to clean transportation, improved   
   industrial energy efficiency, and more energy efficient buildings and   
   appliances."   
      
   Contrast that with Harper and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's   
   recent mutual back-patting in Ottawa.  Appearing oblivious to the   
   reality of global warming and economic principles, both rejected the   
   idea of a "job-killing carbon tax."   
      
   One Risky Business author, former Clinton treasury secretary Robert   
   Rubin, also warned about the economic risks of relying on "stranded   
   assets" — resources that must stay in the ground if we are to avoid   
   dangerous levels of climate change, including much of the bitumen in   
   Canada's tar sands.   
      
   In a commentary in Nature, a multidisciplinary group of economists,   
   scientists and other experts called for a moratorium on all oil sands   
   expansion and transportation projects such as pipelines because of what   
   they described in a news release as the "failure to adequately address   
   carbon emissions or the cumulative effect of multiple projects."  They   
   want "Canada and the United States to develop a joint North American   
   road map for energy development that recognizes the true social and   
   environmental costs of infrastructure projects as well as account for   
   national and international commitments to reduce carbon emissions."   
      
   Those who fear or reject change are running out of excuses as humanity   
   runs out of time.  Pitting the natural environment against the   
   human-invented economy and placing higher value on the latter is   
   foolish.  These reports show it's time to consign that false dichotomy   
   to the same dustbin as other debunked and discredited rubbish spread by   
   those who profit from sowing doubt and confusion about global warming.   
      
   "Climate inaction inflicts costs that escalate every day," World Bank   
   Group vice-president Rachel Kyte said, adding its study "makes the case   
   for actions that save lives, create jobs, grow economies and, at the   
   same time, slow the rate of climate change. We place ourselves and our   
   children at peril if we ignore these opportunities."   
      
   If our leaders can't comprehend that, let's find some who can.   
   _________________________________   
      
   By David Suzuki with contributions from Ian Hanington, Senior Editor   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)