Canada to Quit Kyoto

[Fairweather]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16151310

 

Canada will formally withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the minister of the environment has said.

 

Peter Kent said the protocol "does not represent a way forward for Canada" and the country would face crippling fines for failing to meet its targets.

 

The move, which is legal and was expected, makes it the first nation to pull out of the global treaty.

 

The protocol, initially adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, is aimed at fighting global warming.

 

"Kyoto, for Canada, is in the past, and as such we are invoking our legal right to withdraw from Kyoto," Mr Kent said in Toronto.

 

He said he would be formally advising the United Nations of his country's intention to pull out.

 

 

He said meeting Canada's obligations under Kyoto would cost $13.6bn (10.3bn euros; £8.7bn): "That's $1,600 from every Canadian family - that's the Kyoto cost to Canadians, that was the legacy of an incompetent Liberal government".

 

He said that despite this cost, greenhouse emissions would continue to rise as two of the world's largest polluters - the US and China - were not covered by the Kyoto agreement.

 

"We believe that a new agreement that will allow us to generate jobs and economic growth represents the way forward," he said.

 

Mr Kent's announcement came just hours after a last-minute deal on climate change was agreed in Durban.

 

Talks on a new legal deal covering all countries will begin next year and end by 2015, coming into effect by 2020, the UN climate conference decided.

 

"The Kyoto Protocol is a dated document, it is actually considered by many as an impediment to the move forward but there was good will demonstrated in Durban, the agreement that we ended up with provides the basis for an agreement by 2015."

 

He said that though the text of the Durban agreement "provides a loophole for China and India", it represents "the way forward".

 

Canada's previous Liberal government signed the accord but Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government never embraced it.

 

Canada declared four years ago that it did not intend to meet its existing Kyoto Protocol commitments and its annual emissions have risen by about once third since 1990.

 

[minx]

I'm actually impressed with Canada on this one.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

Why does Canada hate the environment?

[G-spotter]

The "Steven Harper government" (that's what they call themselves now, not "the Canadian government" - telling since Canadian government would be for the Canadian people) is firmly affixed, human centipede style, to the anus of large Alberta oil companies.

[Crux]

 

It's the way forward.

[Phil K]

Isn't this sort of like cheering for someone who runs over pesky bicyclists?

[Crux]

The Kyoto Protocol is a dated document. Like bicyclists.

[G-spotter]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRjSLBmYaoI

[j_b]

While the dead-enders rejoice at the lack of action by governments toward mediating climate change:

 

Russian research team astonished after finding 'fountains' of methane bubbling to surface

 

Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region.

 

The scale and volume of the methane release has astonished the head of the Russian research team who has been surveying the seabed of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf off northern Russia for nearly 20 years.

 

In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Igor Semiletov, of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that he has never before witnessed the scale and force of the methane being released from beneath the Arctic seabed.

 

"Earlier we found torch-like structures like this but they were only tens of metres in diameter. This is the first time that we've found continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures, more than 1,000 metres in diameter. It's amazing," Dr Semiletov said. "I was most impressed by the sheer scale and high density of the plumes. Over a relatively small area we found more than 100, but over a wider area there should be thousands of them."

 

Scientists estimate that there are hundreds of millions of tonnes of methane gas locked away beneath the Arctic permafrost, which extends from the mainland into the seabed of the relatively shallow sea of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. One of the greatest fears is that with the disappearance of the Arctic sea-ice in summer, and rapidly rising temperatures across the entire region, which are already melting the Siberian permafrost, the trapped methane could be suddenly released into the atmosphere leading to rapid and severe climate change.

 

Dr Semiletov's team published a study in 2010 estimating that the methane emissions from this region were about eight million tonnes a year, but the latest expedition suggests this is a significant underestimate of the phenomenon.

 

In late summer, the Russian research vessel Academician Lavrentiev conducted an extensive survey of about 10,000 square miles of sea off the East Siberian coast. Scientists deployed four highly sensitive instruments, both seismic and acoustic, to monitor the "fountains" or plumes of methane bubbles rising to the sea surface from beneath the seabed.

 

"In a very small area, less than 10,000 square miles, we have counted more than 100 fountains, or torch-like structures, bubbling through the water column and injected directly into the atmosphere from the seabed," Dr Semiletov said. "We carried out checks at about 115 stationary points and discovered methane fields of a fantastic scale – I think on a scale not seen before. Some plumes were a kilometre or more wide and the emissions went directly into the atmosphere – the concentration was a hundred times higher than normal."

 

Dr Semiletov released his findings for the first time last week at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.html

 

[AlpineK]

[video:youtube]

[tvashtarkatena]

Sitting on top of 2 trillion barrels may have had something to do with this long expected move.

 

I'd say the country is ripe for invasion from the South. Don't think Shell, Syncrude, or Suncor would have a problem with that. Canada's closet evangelicals would practically rapture at the thought.

 

Might be the only profitable war we probably wouldn't have to fight.

Edited December 13, 2011 by tvashtarkatena

[Crux]

Canada could be like a new Texass, only without bad weather, tumbleweeds, and Dallas.

[sobo]

...and Houston. Just sayin'...

[Mal_Con]

A few brave expats will battle the yanks just like 1812

[j_b]

China dismissed Kent's claim that emission cuts damage economies as a "fallacy". A UK government spokesman said: "It's true that taking action to reduce emissions requires substantial financial investment but it is far less expensive than the cost of inaction."

 

Canada condemned at home and abroad

[minx]

china is condemning anybody for emissions? hmmmm.... i didn't think they were a leader in emissions cutting....

 

as much as i want to save every polarbear and hug every tree, i don't think the kyoto treaty is a real approach to solving our environmental problems

[AlpineK]

Large complicated problems are never resolved by the first attempt at a solution. In this case science is mixed with economic and social problems. Getting two people to agree on anything can prove challenging. In this case it's 7 billion people.

 

The Kyoto Treaty was an early shot. It needs fixing and repair, but doing something is better than nothing.

[minx]

Kurt -- I agree with that. It is a start and a start was definitely needed but its 20 years old and needs an overhaul. I think having Canada pull out is a good thing. It may be a big red flag to the rest of th world that change to the agreement is needed NOW.

 

[j_b]

china is condemning anybody for emissions? hmmmm.... i didn't think they were a leader in emissions cutting....

 

as much as i want to save every polarbear and hug every tree, i don't think the kyoto treaty is a real approach to solving our environmental problems

 

China's emissions have gone through the roof in part because they now produce all the crap we used to make here (Canada's steep rise in emissions is largely due to resource extraction). China is also the largest investor in green energy worldwide (so in a sense they have been leaders in addressing climate change). In November, they announced a $1.5 trillion investment package in green technology, which I believe is about an order of magnitude greater than anybody else.

 

China also for the first time agreed to be bound by a treaty to emission reductions so I can't see how Canada pulling out of climate treaties can help beside their eschewing responsibility for mining tar sands (game over according to some climate scientists). But, you'll notice that the quote I cited addressed the neoliberal canard regarding the cost of mediating climate change.

[E-rock]

hey j_bot, what's the carbon footprint of your web-browser?

[jon]

"We believe that a new agreement that will allow us to generate jobs and economic growth represents the way forward," he said.

 

I think this is the saddest quote of all.

 

"We need to continue polluting the environment to continue job growth."

[Fairweather]

Large complicated problems are never resolved by the first attempt at a solution. In this case science is mixed with economic and social problems. Getting two people to agree on anything can prove challenging. In this case it's 7 billion people.

 

The Kyoto Treaty was an early shot. It needs fixing and repair, but doing something is better than nothing.

 

Forget Kyoto. It's the 7 billion people who are the problem. Time to offer disincentives for people willing to limit their "contributions" to the next generation. And offer incentives to those willing to codify it.

[j_b]

We don't have until the next generation to act on climate change. Anyway, aren't you the type who spouts his mouth off about "librul social engineering" and you want to engage in population control now?

[ivan]

the harry truman solution might help? nuclear winter counter-attack motherfucker!

[AlpineK]

We got a lotta nukes sitting around useless in storage. Time for the warlords

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYq0Sd1H9Ds