Paris deal: the tide is turning
Re Plenty of hot air at Paris climate summit, Dec. 16 The Paris Accord is far from perfect but, as the Star writes, it is a breakthrough. If taken seriously it marks an end of the fossilfuel era in order to preserve the lives and cultures of millions of people from severe climate disruption.
Arriving on the heels of this event is another historic moment for Canada. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has delivered its final report urging a new era for our country.
The Canadian government is striking the right tone on these two historical events and it is up to all of us to rise to the occasion. The road ahead will be tough, no question, but it does not behoove us to dwell on what we believe to be impossible.
We can behave compassionately and think innovatively. We can develop right relations between indigenous and nonindigenous peoples, and a diversified clean-energy economy. We can inspire other nations to do the same. We can and must be the generation that does this. Cheryl McNamara, Toronto Civilizations end by telling themselves lies. The Paris climate change agreement is a massive exercise in spin and denial, in not facing the facts with appropriate action, and celebrating a non-achievement because it makes us all more comfortable.
The people of Easter Island no doubt told themselves they had a plan when they cut down the last trees. So we have a plan too, but one that looks more like a sham. Maybe what came out of Paris is all that could be accomplished. Well, I suppose 50 years from now we can say “we did our best.”
As Mike Tyson said: “Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth.” What kind of punches will it take for us to get real, to stretch our best into something more tangible? John Simke, Toronto Setting the goal of containing the global warming for a world that is in the habit of consuming massive amounts of fossil fuels is a good starting point but achieving it is a different matter. The race against time and for saving the planet has just begun. To reach the destination, the Earth should be showered with solar panels and windmills while oil and coal remain buried in the ground. Let’s develop an uncompromising attitude toward those who will be tempted to break the Paris deal. Ali Orang, Richmond Hill The Paris accord means that those in poverty will have less access to the affordable, abundant sources of energy they need to improve their standards of living; a move away from what’s left of our free enterprise economy to an even larger regulatory state, impeding economic and social progress; and a redistribution of wealth from ordinary citizens to the bureaucracies, the well-connected corporations with friends in government and the companies that can afford the best lobbyists.
All this will accomplish, according to a recent peer-reviewed research paper by environmentalist Dr. Bjorn Lomborg, is 0.048 degrees Celsius less in warming by 2100. That’s assuming all the countries follow through on all the voluntary, nonbinding commitments in the Paris agreement.
The climate movement is a joke. Matthew Lau, Toronto
“Get ready for a huge shift in capital investment from dinosaur-era fuels to the new green economy.” DOUG PRITCHARD TORONTO
The Paris accord is equivalent to Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 boast of “peace in our time” after his negotiations with Adolf Hitler. Just as the 1938 negotiations changed nothing, the Paris accord will change nothing and will not have any lasting effect on climate change.
It failed to address the real causes of climate change (and CO2 emissions isn’t one of them) and does not place enough effort on adaptation. The accord is not legally binding and allows major CO2 emitters like the U.S., China and India to continue to pump out tons of CO2 for decades to come.
The fact remains that the two major energy alternatives to fossil fuels, solar and wind, don’t work when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. When these conditions happen, as they frequently do, you still need a fossil fuel back up to generate power.
The reality is that the world will be using fossil fuels well into the future. For that reason, if my financial adviser suggested that I shift my investments from fossil fuels to so-called “green energy” projects, I would be looking for a new adviser.
Senior climate alarmist Jim Hansen has bluntly described the Paris accord as a fraud, a fake, worthless words with no action. Even though I don’t agree with Hansen on the causes of climate change, I will take his assessment of the Paris accord over the environmental group hug any day. Curt Shalapata, Oshawa It is highly encouraging to see that French leadership and resolve finally helped to seal the deal. Considering that the Paris terror attacks could well have derailed the meeting and its outcome, this gutsy global agreement is truly a testament to the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” M. Fernandes, Mississauga Re Smart money is now green, Editorial Dec. 15 You are correct that Paris was a breakthrough. For the world to have rallied behind agreeing to go down the road to ending the fossil-fuel era is huge. And Citizens’ Climate Lobby has the best idea on how to start that process, without creating hardship for the public: a revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend implemented nationally. Sharon Howarth, Toronto Yes indeed, the smart money is now green. Here’s why: Governments have signalled that conventional energy prices will continue to increase rapidly. A “cost on carbon” and subsidies will continue to be used to make green energy artificially “competitive” while taxpayers foot the bill. Who cares if this has any real impact on global warming?
The smart money will follow government-mandated taxpayer funded subsidies for politically sexy feel-good “we’re saving the world” projects.
The only absolutely certain outcome of the Paris talks is that tens of thousands of “environmentalists” will continue to jet off to annual climate jamborees at exotic locations — count on it. Pav Penna, Georgetown With the unanimous Paris climate agreement, the tide is turning against fossil fuels and toward a renewable, greener economy. Most remaining fossil fuels will need to remain in the ground if we are to avoid more than 2C warming and increasingly expensive climate disasters. So get ready for a huge shift in capital investment from dinosaur-era fuels to the new green economy.
The fastest and fairest way to drive this change is with a rising fee on carbon emissions with the revenue returned to households. Now Canada needs to end fossil fuel subsidies, set standards for provincial carbon-pricing schemes, and implement border controls to protect our economy from carbon laggards. Doug Pritchard, Toronto On the heels of the historic, global climate change deal, Canada’s agenda is clear: reduce and eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. To date, taxpayers have been subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, sometimes without our knowledge, it seems.
In 2011, according to the IMF, Canadians were paying about $787 each per year to subsidize these companies (for a total of about $26 billion). That amount does not include what we paid at the pump for gas or for household heating.
Will Prime Minister Justin Trudeau eliminate Canadian taxpayer support of these companies that are responsible for fossil fuel production in our nation, and will he transfer those monies to the renewable energy sector?
Although it’s not easy being green, it can be done. That would be a breath of fresh air, especially for generations to come. Kim D. Henderson, Victoria, B.C. As a Liberal devil’s advocate, I venture to suggest that the uncritical euphoria of the mainstream media over the approval of the climate deal by 200 regimes, led by the self-congratulatory Barack Obama and his untested surrogate, Justin Trudeau, is fatally flawed. It is yet another march of folly by the supposedly civilized West.
For a start, it is not binding under international law on all the signatories. Then, too, the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress will veto or stall enacting the laws required to enforce it — an echo of the League of Nations fiasco. The deal will cost us thousands of jobs as companies hurt by its draconian stipulations move jobs to China and India.
Most importantly, perhaps, the rich democracies, by funnelling tens of billions to the poor nations to implement it and atone for alleged past sins, will be sponsoring kleptomaniacal tyrants like Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.
Sadly, in the real world, the foreign-aid gravy train never reaches the starving and benighted masses. Raymond Heard, Toronto The Star identified the top two causes of global warming in Canada as the oil and gas industry and transportation. Both problems are connected by the combustion engine and the use of fossil fuels. There is a draconian solution.
Enact laws that all vehicles manufactured after a certain year must be combustion free and that all owners still using such vehicles after that date would to be subject to a rising carbon tax. This leaves the problem of what to do with oil producers.
What we need today are statesmen not politicians — people who would put forward what needs to be done without regard to re-election. Rowland Galbraith, Burlington