Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - May 2005
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Kyoto - it needs science not satire, to reduce global warming

by Tom Davey
The Kyoto Accord has developed from a well-meaning international initiative to reduce global warming into a pseudo religion which transcends rational debate and divides viewpoints into ‘good’ and ‘evil’. The Accord is mindful of The Lord Of The Rings with its witches’ brew of economics, international politics, ecology, limnology, and oceanography - to name but a few. These are erudite, highly complex scientific disciplines in which even academics find difficulty in fully comprehending Kyoto’s vast range of permutations.

The Federal government has now projected a $10 billion expenditure over five years to curb greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. CO₂ sources include automobiles and the refineries which feed them, and even agriculture which feeds us all.

But there are many other sources, including termites, which give off an astonishingly high rate of CO₂. Even hydro electric projects have ecological downsides and indeed have their own CO₂ emissions, which amazed me when I first read the data. Wind power too, is coming under increasing criticism. The most recent complaints say wind turbines not only kill birds but deface some of the most scenic and treasured landscapes. One English writer wrote in The Guardian that wind turbines can be compared to slashing one of Turner’s famous landscape paintings.

So, enough already. Global warming is undeniably a serious threat. But it is also one of the most complex environmental challenges mankind faces. In the face of this veritable litany of ecological complexities, it is typical of our Federal government that, to fulfill its objectives, it chose satirist, Rick Mercer, to exhort each of us to reduce global warming by one tonne. This choice of a spokesman is in itself worthy of satire. To exhort us all to save a tonne is, in my opinion, both trite and futile. Many scientists would be hard pressed to compile the various components involved in their daily activities and then reduce them by one tonne.

On reflection, perhaps Rick was an appropriate choice when one considers Kyoto – it needs science, not satire, to reduce global warming the Federal government’s virtually unbroken string of comedic, but tragic failures in its economic missions. First there was the Sea Kings helicopter debacle which cost half a billion in contract cancellations not to have helicopters. The cost of this debacle continues. Then there was the Gun Control fiasco which went from a projected $200 million to a billion dollars - and counting. Meanwhile, most of the gunrelated crimes seems to be from unregistered weapons. There was also the Human Resources debacle where a Federal Minister could not account for another billion dollars when questioned in the House. A billion seems to be an optimum figure which repeatedly crops up in government mismanagement.

Adscam is the latest horror story emerging at the Gomery Enquiry. It appears quite astonishing sums of Federal money were poured into what seems to be quite simple tasks, like showing Canadian flags and other appurtenances exalting Canadian unity. Brain surgery this is not. Even hardened Federal Waste Watchers are astonished at the veritable litany of fiscal waste, padded accounting and other dubious practices which was found at the Enquiry. One man broke down before Judge Gomery after it emerged that his billing practices indicated that he would have had to work ten hour days, every single day for a year.

If the Federal government can spend huge sums of money on quite simple work such as flag waving, the mind boggles at how it will comprehend, and control what is probably the most complex multidisciplinary environmental problem our civilization has ever faced. I once again refer to Malthus who first described economics as The Dismal Science. With the mighty United States unwilling to sign Kyoto, Canada’s reductions, while puny in a global perspective, could have serious economic ramifications for us, while having, at the most, a minimum impact on global warming.

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