Harper and China

[mustardman]

Silverback, First of all you need a gov't that believes the problem is actually happening.
You need public policy to have a vision for cities to be expanded around innercores with public transits,
viable shopping in the downtown not simply putting big box stores on the outskirts and then giving them a tax incentive to boot. Maybe drivers have to get some sort of incentive to buy the technology ie hybrid cars and a consumption tax on SUVs.
Drive thru the suburbs how many suv parked in the driveways- not like they need to go offroading thru the bush to get to Safeway.
The gov't has to maybe force industry to change, it shouldn't have to because the ones who are quickest to will be the winners.
Farmers if using zero till and not baling straw are actually acting as a carbon sink- we are tying up more C02 than we are creating-
We can't forget that Kyota was only the first step. We will have many tougher accords down the road.
Hey maybe get the railroads to develop branch lines to haul grain etc. What a novel idea to keep CO2 down.
A one hundred car train pulled by 3 engines takes 300 semis off the road.
Where was the vision when they ended the crow !!! We should have had all the enviromentalist groups on side with us then.

[TOM4CWB]

Mustardman,

What happened to PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

What have you done?

Have you bought new machines that burn fuel many times cleaner than 20 year old machines, and burn less fuel?

Have you stopped recreational tillage?

Have you bought a truck that hauls 45t to reduce fuel consumption?

[cowman]

How much of all the green house gas in the world does Canada produce? How much of the big picture are we even responsible for? Come on...use your head...every Canadian could go back to "caveman status"...and nothing would change! The big players are not buying into it!
What we need is a technology answer...not some goofy environmental "feel good" answer!
The fact is the wealthy nations are the only ones who can solve this problem? And unfortunately the ones calling the shots "scientifically" right now are the left leaning "wingdings"...who have never solved a damned thing yet!
Maybe I look at it all wrong...I believe this old world will be here as long as it is supposed to be and there is some supreme being in control! Maybe naive? Maybe I should put my faith in some "educated elite" who are so dumb they don't know how to start the lawnmower!
Scientists...always right...well until tommorrow when they look like morons!
It seems like only yesterday they were predicting the next iceage? Well...maybe tommorrow?
Take all scientific BS with a grain of salt...these were the same "experts" that told you a steak would surely kill you!

[mustardman]

Tom Yes personal responsiblity is where it has to start, and yes I do quite a bit although we could always do more.
Ihave been zero tilling for over 15 years and recently sold carbon credits on the Chicago climate Exchange $2.20-2.40 per acre back to 2003.

Any field work is kept to minimum,sidebanding fert when seeding,
straight cutting, running tractor efficently (gear up throttle back}

Honda civic for transportation 50 mpg
although we still use the old f150 around farm.
Hauling grain is done with tandem diesel 6 miles to town or custom hauled 35 miles in the other direction.

All these things can be done but we still are per capita the biggest emitter on the planet. Alberta is the worst emitter in Canada ( with the tar sands leading the way }
Harper giving until 2050 to change anything is not acceptable

[northfarmer]

Alberta is a big emmitter, what is your point.......we are the energy producing infrastructure for one of the most developed continental economies of the modern world...if you measured recent growth in emmissions Alberta is huge.....but if you measured the aggregate pollution from industrial and the populous of the eastern seaboard, the great lakes basin and the southwest coast of the NA you see the total continental emmisions picture ...no one will argue the validity of protecting the environment........but Kyoto...give me a break....most of the world will do nothing, they have no targets to start with....never mind arguing the science...for every credible scientific source one side puts out, I read the opposite from another.....there is no question that there is a socioeconomic political agenda behind the scenes and it will play out a country like Canada as a big loser if we move directly forward with a kyoto compliance strategy....