Another Moral Economy Column
By Christopher Lind
December 2009
I have been ashamed of my country only twice in my life. The first time was when we declared war on Iraq in 1990. The second was last week when I listened to a British journalist upbraid Canadians for allowing our government to undermine new international action on climate change. I never thought Canada would declare war in my lifetime and I never thought my Canadian government would undermine collective efforts to do the right thing internationally. I was wrong on both counts.
The connecting issue for both of these events is oil, or as the Beverly Hillbillies used to say “black gold, Texas tea”. In 1990 we were protecting Western interests in the oil resources of the Middle East. In 2009 we are protecting Western interests in the Alberta tar sands. I am not sure we are protecting Canadian interests because I don’t know what interests Canada would have in polluting the Athabasca watershed, destroying 500 sq. kms of landscape, increasing the cancer risk of nearby populations and increasing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by 5%. On the other hand, the Government of Alberta says there are 173 billion barrels of oil that can be recovered from the tar sands using today’s technology. At $50 per barrel that means there is over $8.6 trillion to be made, and more as the price of oil rises. A lot of people have an interest in that.
People feel shame when they see themselves as others see them, and their behaviour contradicts their stated values and beliefs. It makes us want to cover ourselves, or hide because a real part of ourselves feels exposed. It was more than a little irritating to be shamed and exposed by a Brit. After all, what crime could Canadians commit that Britain hasn’t done many times over? On the other hand, the feeling of shame suggests the journalist had touched a nerve. Why would I feel shame if I had nothing to hide?
Even though it seems like this is a debate about mining in Alberta, it is really about you and me. Even though I live in Toronto I am fully implicated in this issue. I drive a car that burns gasoline. I heat my home with natural gas. My pension fund earns income from Suncor and some of the other 91 commercial projects located there. My government wants to make the politics of climate change to be about what the Chinese will or won’t do, and what the Indian government will agree to or won’t. But the climate is changing more because of what Canadians and Americans are doing than anyone else. The average Canadian produces almost 5 times more carbon dioxide than the average Chinese produces and more than 10 times what a citizen of India produces. My government is being mean and petty, selfish and deceitful; but if you and I don’t change the way we live, we’ll be no different.
If you’re old enough to remember the cartoon strip “Pogo” then you’ll remember cartoonist Walt Kelly’s most famous line “We have met the enemy and he is us”. Kelly used that on a poster for the first Earth Day in 1970. It’s still true.
Visit the website at christopherlind.ca
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This column is published in the Western Producer, Canada's largest farm newspaper.
5 comments:
Thanks for your blog, sent to me by a friend, a kindered spirit. My new book, adult environmental fiction, entitled Carol 'A Woman's Way' is a story of hope for Planet Earth, and yes it means no oil sands and alot more. Visit: http://twitter.com/awomansway
It is published by Dreamcatcher Publishing in Saint John, NB.
If your job was dependent on oil instead of quipping off cute little political lefty opinions on your puter, I doubt whether you would be so in a hurry to go global green. The global warming idea is a sham, and it seems that only "smart educated" people like yourself are true believers, and the intelligent people do not. It is a ploy to bring down a global carbon tax, from all the "bad polluters" (in the west) to feed the UN monster.
Also you believe we (in the west) are bad for fighting those poor muslums, You (I assume) probably believe that the Jews are the problem in the middle east, but if you think for a minute its not Jews killing innocents in Somalia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Liberia, China, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Sudan, and almost every other conflict in the world. O yes, and Europe will be a moslem nation before 2050, and you should be ashamed defending a religion that treats women and children worse than dogs.
As spot on as always.
Steve
If your job was dependent on oil instead of quipping off cute little political lefty opinions on your puter, I doubt whether you would be so in a hurry to go global green. The global warming idea is a sham, and it seems that only "smart educated" people like yourself are true believers, and the intelligent people do not. It is a ploy to bring down a global carbon tax, from all the "bad polluters" (in the west) to feed the UN monster.
Also you believe we (in the west) are bad for fighting those poor muslums, You (I assume) probably believe that the Jews are the problem in the middle east, but if you think for a minute its not Jews killing innocents in Somalia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Liberia, China, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Sudan, and almost every other conflict in the world. O yes, and Europe will be a moslem nation before 2050, and you should be ashamed defending a religion that treats women and children worse than dogs.
Instead of the enemy within, why not work on meeting GOD--an acronym I use to refer to all that generates goodness; organizes all opportunities and delivers that which is desirable and delightful?
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