Woman At Mile 0

Posted by Woman at Mile 0 on July 4th, 2007 in American-Politics, British Columbia, Canadian-Politics, Environment, Federal Conservatives, Water

According to this New York Times article, US government scientists are still reluctant to admit the Southern US’s disastrous, extended drought is a result of climate change.

Admitting the drought is a result of human induced climate change and rising greenhouse gases, means bringing attention to the fact that Bush and the Repubs have done everything in their power to sabotage progress the world has made on climate change (e.g. collaborating with Harper at the G8 summit to ensure the death of Kyoto).

This sneaky Repub game of 1st-deny the science, 2nd-pretend to ponder the science and 3rd-just stall like crazy has begun to wear thin with Americans. The US’s “do nothing policies” (ironically a result of the South’s support of Bush) on the environment have the potential to make people a lot less sympathetic to the plight of the Southern US. I would expect a similar lack of empathy might apply to Canada as well now given that Harper/Baird have moved us over to join Bush and the Repubs in the “do-nothing camp“. The New York Times reports,

Much of the region, government scientists say, is suffering from a rare sharp dry spell, though they are reluctant to attribute it to climate change. “In terms of its intensity, this one is very severe,” said Donald Wilhite, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

The drought affected area is extensive, spanning Alabama, Southern California, the Southwest, Ohio and Indiana.

In late June the Globe and Mail reported,

that 50 per cent of the United States is currently experiencing unusually dry or drought conditions.

Meanwhile Canwest reports that,

A majority of Canadians feel it’s their responsibility to improve the environment, but the government should also have an active role in fighting climate change

72 per cent of respondents said it is “the responsibility of the government to fix environmental problems.”

I thought it was interesting that the poll question did not ask people if they felt that big oil/corporations/energy industry should do more because I am betting that would have received a high number of positive responses as well.

Finally, in keeping with the environmental vein of this post, I would like to offer my condolences to both the McCrory family and Canada, as we mourn the loss of a courageous Canadian environmentalist. I had several opportunities in my teens to meet Colleen McCrory and I attended high school with members of her family for a time. I was young and did not fully comprehend until later how important her work/ advocacy was to the Kootenay region and British Columbia. Today Dr. Suzuki said,

“I think that she’s one of the giants in the environmental movement, not just in British Columbia or Canada, but around the world,”

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