Canadian Senate

Will The Unelected Senate Of Canada Vote Against A Clean Energy Future?

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It’s Monday and I don’t have a lot of time to squeeze out a blog post today. What spare time I have will be spent sending off final emails or making phone calls to senators in Ottawa who are starting debate on Bill C311, the Climate Accountability Act, tomorrow. If passed into law, the Climate Change Accountability Act will set science based emissions reductions, require the government to produce five year target plans, establish independent reviews, and punish polluters who break regulations. It will also position Canada as a global leader in the transition to a low carbon economy. It’s taken years to get here, and, if passed, will give Canada a wonderful opportunity to make up for our embarrassing performance on climate change up to now.  If the bill is voted down those senators who oppose it are disregarding the will of the elected Parliament, and doing the bidding of the Chamber of Commerce and Big Oil. To find out how to contact the Senators yourself, go to September 20th’s posting by Cheryl McNamara, “Climate Crunch: Canada’s Unelected Senators Under Pressure From the Chamber of Commerce to Vote Against Clean Energy Bill”.

Meanwhile, I’m not the only one in the family who is busy these days. My husband spent time this weekend to begin installation of  a 7 KiloWatt solar panel system that will feed into the grid as part of Ontario’s new microFIT  program. This is a process that started last February when Mark filled out the application, and gathered momentum when he received the approval in June. We’ve had the panels sitting in our garage since the end of July, waiting until he has the time and information to install them himself. That has been the most difficult parts of this experience, as there is no one in or close to our community that has the expertise to install them. Mark has been in regular contact with the company in Southern Ontario that he purchased the panels from, but that hasn’t always been all that helpful. Luckily before he became a family physician he worked in construction for several years, and, unlike some do-it-yourselfers, actually knows what he’s doing when it comes to sorting out difficult problems.

I promise to give more of the installation details as the project unfolds. In the meantime, here are some pictures from this weekend’s work. Unfortunately it was stalled when Mark found that the stainless steel screws and nuts that he needs to install the aluminium rails (the next step) weren’t sent with them, and he couldn’t buy replacements on a Saturday locally.

More links:

How To Contact Senators re: Bill C311, The Climate Accountability Act

Climate Crunch: Canada’s Unelected Senators Under Pressure From Canadian Chamber of Commerce To Vote Against Clean Energy Future.


Writing To People Who Should Know Better

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Today’s guest blogger is Cheryl McNamara, whose blog Carbon Slim offers tasks and tips to help readers reduce their carbon footprints. Cheryl also runs Climate Response, a grassroots on-line group whose purpose is to “elevate the public conversation on climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy”. The following article is from August 4, 2010:

Some of you have been asking about my Carbon Slim blog. My apologies for the spotty installments. I’ve been busy writing to Canadian Senators and now, the President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, to stop plotting to kill Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Bill. The Bill is now before the Senate.

To read my exchange with Perrin Beatty, President of the Chamber of Commerce, who is urging industry to lobby the Senate to kill the Bill, visit http://www.trunity.net/climateresponse/blogs/view/149327/?topic=28777

For my correspondence with Marjory LeBreton, Leader of the Government in the Senate, visit http://www.trunity.net/climateresponse/blogs/view/147728/?topic=28777

Things are little hairy, what with the US Senate not doing a damn thing about climate change, despite 2010 being the hottest year on record. Governments are failing us because, let’s face it, they receive campaign money from big oil and coal, or believe we must hitch our economic wagon to oil and coal extraction.

350.org is mobilizing citizens through its 10.10.10 campaign. If governments won’t act, people will. Time is of the essence. It’s not time to give up. In five years time, if no significant action is taken on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, then god help us all.

Bill Mckibben, who spearheaded 350.org, has this to say about the matter – http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175281/

More links:

If you are interested in being notified and contributing comments when articles on climate change and alternative energy appear in the mainstream media, click here to join Climate Response.