“Tomorrow’s Climate is Today’s Challenge”

Although the threat of climate change is a much bigger threat to Canadian and American long-term security than the threat of extremists, it is not being taken seriously by our elected representatives. While their approach is still less than perfect, Britain, an island nation, recognizes the threat of climate change and their government is ahead of North America on climate change policy and education. David Cameron, the newly elected Conservative Prime Minister, had this to say back in May:

I don’t want to hear warm words about the environment. I want to see real action. I want this to be the greenest government ever… I intend to make decisions put off for too long to fundamentally change how we supply and use energy in Britain… To give the power industry the confidence it needs to invest in low carbon energy projects.

Unfortunately, the closest that Canada has gotten to the British government’s stance is a press release, purporting to be from the Canadian government but actually from the corporate pranksters The Yes Men. It included this “quote” from Environment Minister Prentice:

It is the height of cruelty, hypocrisy, and immorality to infuse with false hopes the spirit of people who are already, and will additionally, bear the brunt of climate change’s terrible human effects. Canada deplores this moral misfire.”

This video was produced by the Labour Government’s “Climate Challenge” program:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzjOcOcQ90U]

The  Climate Challenge website listed is no longer active, but click here go to  British government’s climate change information page.

More links:

Conservative PM: “I want this to be the greenest government ever”

Dept of Energy and Climate Change

The Yes Men

The Best Pranks of 2010

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