‘The Goal Is To Break The West’: Trudeau Slammed For Promise To Cap Oil, Gas Emissions

Trudeau boasted, “Just as globally we’ve agreed to a minimum corporate tax, we must work together to ensure it is no longer free to pollute anywhere in the world. That means establishing a shared minimum standard for pricing pollution. Of course, what’s even better than pricing emissions is ensuring that they don’t happen in the first place, which brings me to my next major commitment: We’ll cap oil and gas sector emissions today and ensure they decrease tomorrow at a pace and scale needed to reach net-zero by 2050. That’s no small task for a major oil- and gas-producing country. It’s a big step that’s absolutely necessary.”

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Vancouver has a plan for the future of Canadian cities

The first big move of the newly elected city council, however, was a long punt: Instead of an urgent push for change, council voted to embark on creating a new city-wide plan, a ponderous process that has ended up taking almost its entire term in office.

Three years later, the broad outlines of that plan are finally coming into focus. The framework was released this week. It covers climate issues and the local economy, but it’s centred on the need for more housing through more density, especially in the many neighbourhoods zoned for single-family homes.

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A NATO centre for climate security? Canada and Holland say yes

The Netherlands threw its support behind a new NATO centre of excellence to study the security threats posed by climate change during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s official visit to Holland.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said during a joint media conference with Trudeau Friday that like many around the world, “NATO is also focusing more attention on the climate issue.”

“And that’s the reason why we are working on the NATO centre of excellence on climate and security, ” he said, standing next to Trudeau.

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LIGHTS OUT: Al Gore Says ‘Time to Say Goodbye to Coal, Oil, and Gas Worldwide’

Climate-change crusader and former Vice President Al Gore published a new video on social media this week as world leaders gather in Rome and Scotland; saying it’s “time to say goodbye to coal, oil, and gas.”

“We are right now at a political tipping,” he warns in the video. “The window for limiting the increased temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius is closing. But we have the solutions we need to solve this crisis.”

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Pushing ‘Build Back Better’ Agenda, Biden Claims You Can Drive Across The Country In An Electric Vehicle ‘On A Single Tank Of Gas, Figuratively Speaking.’

On Thursday, the White House announced that it was confident a $1.75 trillion version of President Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill would be able to pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and that it would “set the United States on course to meet its climate goals.”

As part of this agenda, the White House is describing this nearly $2 trillion spending drive as “the largest effort to combat climate change in American history.”

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Minister formerly an activist

Newly minted Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says his agenda to combat climate change and bring down emissions from Alberta’s oilsands is not a secret.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has said Guilbeault’s appointment Tuesday to the environment portfolio sends a “problematic message” to his province about Ottawa’s plans for the oil and gas sector.

Guilbeault is a former environmental activist from Quebec who has called the oilsands “dirty” and argued that pipelines and oil and gas expansion are not compatible with meeting Canada’s climate goals.

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Justin Trudeau wants a “just transition” away from Canada’s energy sector

As Justin Trudeau’s government seeks to “decarbonize” Canadian industry, the Liberals are advancing what they call a “just transition” devoted to “helping workers and communities thrive in a net-zero carbon economy.” While it sounds noble, it’s an initiative based on the idea of phasing out jobs in Canada’s oil and gas sector. Moreover, it neglects to recognize the work being done by the energy industry, such as investing in carbon capture and storage, which reduce emissions without punitive carbon taxes.

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Calgary’s new mayor says first order of business to declare ‘climate emergency’, ‘move past’ oil and gas

Newly elected mayor of Calgary, Jyoti Gondek, announced this morning in her first interview as mayor, that her top priority is to declare a ‘climate emergency’ in the city of Calgary.

Gondek said that Calgary has had ‘years’ to declare a climate emergency, and now is the time ‘to get serious and declare [a climate emergency]’.

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Inconvenient Tornado Data Disappears

One of the main difficulties with tornado records is that a tornado, or evidence of a tornado must have been observed. Unlike rainfall or temperature, which may be measured by a fixed instrument, tornadoes are short-lived and very unpredictable. If a tornado occurs in a place with few or no people, it is not likely to be documented. Many significant tornadoes may not make it into the historical record since Tornado Alley was very sparsely populated during the 20th century.

h/t Mom

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Troops to Get ‘Climate Literacy’ Education Under Pentagon’s New Climate Change Plan

A military of “climate literate” troops and bases powered by microgrids, that’s the future envisioned by the Pentagon.

Its new climate change plan, ordered by President Joe Biden and released Thursday, would affect every level of command. It seeks to counter the damaging effects of a warming world by educating troops on the potential peril and hardening installations.

h/t Mauser98

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“I grew up being afraid of drowning in my own bedroom”

“I grew up being afraid of drowning in my own bedroom”

Says Mitzi Tan, 23, the Philippines. (This is an email I got from Avaaz.)

That’s the heartbreaking story one young person told us about how the climate crisis scares her. And she’s not alone.

Avaaz members just funded the biggest-ever survey on climate anxiety in children and young people — surveying 10,000 people in 10 countries around the world. In every country, it shows that anxiety about the planetary crisis is very high, and it’s not just because we’re witnessing devastating climate disasters, it’s also linked to governments consistently failing to take decisive, meaningful action to stop the crisis.

We can still stop runaway climate change. We know what’s needed, and what governments must do. But it will require bold political will and determination — and that’s been woefully missing. Yet things are moving, there is new momentum, and there’s still tons of space for radical, grounded hope.

Here’s what the study found:

 45%

Nearly half of global youth surveyed (45%) say climate anxiety is affecting their daily lives: how they play, eat, study, and sleep.

 75%

More than seven in ten (75%) believe “the future is frightening” — jumping to 81% of youth surveyed in Portugal and 92% in the Philippines.

 58%

58% said governments were “betraying me and/or future generations,” while 64% said their governments are not doing enough to avoid a climate catastrophe.

 39%

Almost four in ten youngsters (39%) said they are now hesitant about having children.

These results are scary, but psychologists say it’s not just affecting children. Climate anxiety is being felt by people of all ages, everywhere. (Emphases Avaaz’s.)

It reminds me of that time I told a class full of kindergarteners every day for a year that the Boogy Man was hiding in the closet planning to eat them. Those kids are now very jumpy, which proves that we need to do something about this Boogy Man problem, like yesterday. If we don’t address the Boogy issue soon he’ll eat us before we’ve all had a chance to get our 25th Covid booster shot.

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