As Canadians celebrate Canada Day their environment is under siege. Under the newly elected majority Conservative government, concern for the environment -- as a political issue -- is all but dead.Under the Harper led Conservatives, Canada has officially withdrawn their support for the Kyoto Protocol. Like many nations who signed on, Canada, did little to nothing to actually curb their emission of greenhouse gases. Canada's greenhouse gas emissions actually increased 24% since signing the agreement in 1997.
When it comes to the environment, Canada has no leadership at the federal level. However, to Canada's great shame, the country is a leader in other ways. According to an analysis by Climate Action Network, Canada is among the world's leading sources of GHGs. Canada is a global leader in historical emissions, absolute emissions and per capita emissions.
Under Tory leadership, the state of Canada's environment is degrading every day. According to a WWF Canadian Living Planet Report, Canadians are some of the biggest consumers of resources in the world. Canada is also one of the world's biggest energy consumers, burning the equivalent of roughly 8,300 kilograms of oil equivalent per person per year.
The Conservative government is aggressively pushing the expansion of the tar sands. Extracting oil from tar sands pollute the environment, waste huge quantities of water and release much more greenhouse gas (GHG) then conventional oil. This has prompting the Canadian NGO Environmental Defense to call the Alberta tar sands, "the most destructive project on earth."
Sadly, those concerned about the environment have little to celebrate this Canada Day as the Conservatives can be expected to continue their wanton environmental destruction for at least another four years.
© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.
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