Global Warming Is Now Confirmed - February 3rd 2007

TIME TO ACT O CANADA

It seems that the effect of pollution on our environment is now almost universally agreed. Everywhere you look, there are more official papers blaming humankind’s activities and predicting various levels of temperature increases over the next century or so. The loss of glaciers may not seem particularly important to Canadians currently shivering in the depths of winter under several feet of snow. But spare a thought for the millions of desperately poor people living in the low lying areas of Bangladesh whose country will be flooded by a small rise in sea level. They will not have the luxury of moving away towards the mountains.

So who is mostly to blame for this impending disaster? You could say it is the Americans since as a country they pour out more pollution than any other. You could blame China or India because their fast growing industrial might is powered by dirty coal burning power stations. But really, you should look closer to home because in every survey of personal pollution, it is Canadians who produce the most greenhouse gases per head of population. Our government well and truly fudged the issue during the Kyoto negotiations by claiming that this didn’t matter because we have more than enough trees to absorb all this carbon dioxide. What a selfish, un-Canadian attitude!

I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again. The main reasons why Canada (and Alberta in particular) is such a bad polluter is because of our low standards of building insulation and the ridiculously inefficient vehicles we drive.

Compare if you will, the average Canadian house and the average Norwegian house. Here are two countries in similar latitudes with similar climates. In the depths of winter, the average Canadian house is almost continuously burning natural gas to keep the cold at bay whereas the average Norwegian house retains its heat well and usually has a vent open to circulate the air. Why is there such a difference? Mainly because home heating fuel in Norway is much more expensive than in Canada and the extra cost of more insulation is covered by the reduction in heating costs.

That then gives us a clue how best to solve this problem in Canada. Increase the tax on fuels over the next several years, whilst eliminating GST and reducing federal income tax to keep the overall tax burden about the same. Implement schemes to help people properly insulate their existing homes. These measures will encourage a shift away from inefficient housing and vehicles and soon, Canadians will again be able to hold up their heads in the international community and ask what other countries are doing.

Comment by Guest on March 9th 2011

Thomas Robert Malthus’s famous dire food shortage predictions of 1798 and his subsequent books, over the next 30 years, failed to take into consideration modern advances in farming, transportation, food storage and food abundance.

One excellent solution to future population concerns as well as alleviating many of the effects of potential global warming is the proposal for the construction of the "Trans Global Highway". The proposed Trans Global Highway would create a world wide network of standardized roads, railroads, water pipe lines, oil and gas pipelines, electrical and communication cables. The result of this remarkable, far sighted project will be global unity through far better distribution of resources, including heretofore difficult to obtain or unaccessible raw materials, fresh water, finished products and lower global transportation costs.

With greatly expanded global fresh water distribution, arid lands could be cultivated resulting in a huge abundance of global food supplies. The most conservative estimate is that with the construction of the Trans Global Highway, the planet will be able to feed several billion more people, using presently available modern farming technologies. With the present global population of just under 7 billion people and at the United Nations projection of population increase, the world will produce enough food surpluses to feed the expected increased population for several hundred years.

Further information on the proposed Trans Global Highway can be found at www.TransGlobalHighway.com.