U.S. urges Canada to act on climate change

petros

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Walter said:
Such fools who think that humans can control the weather and climate.
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Ohhhhhh we can control the weather. I'd love to shake the hands of the pilots the dive bomb thunderheads to abate hail.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen.
 
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BaalsTears

Senate Member
Jan 25, 2011
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Do Canadians bow and scrape as directed by Americans? Are Canadians lickspittles? I hope not, but the world will be informed by whether Canadians comply with the Obama's orders.
 
Colpy

Colpy

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mentalfloss said:
Times have changed folks.


U.S. urges Canada to act on climate change

As President Barack Obama unveiled the first major regulations to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the United States, his ambassador in Ottawa urged Canada to do the same and take action to combat climate change.

It is a reminder to Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the political challenge he now faces: His chief climate-change policy has been to match U.S. action, but now the Americans are getting more aggressive, and publicly suggesting Canada act too.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman, in his first speech since taking office in April, noted the U.S. move unveiled Monday to cut emissions from coal plants by 30 per cent by 2030. And then he called for more action, including on Canada’s fastest-growing source of emissions, oil production.

“We need to continue that work together moving toward a low-carbon future, with alternative energy choices, with greater energy efficiency, and sustainable extraction of our oil and gas reserves,” Mr. Heyman said.

He challenged Canada to join with the U.S. to combat climate change, and said North America’s “newfound energy abundance should not distract us from the need to improve efficiency and combat climate change.

“This is not a task that we can take on individually. It can only be successfully ‎challenged together.”

The message came with no overt linkage to Canadian projects such as the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Officially, that pipeline is to be judged on whether it would have a net impact on North American emissions. But Mr. Obama has delayed it twice, as activists make it a symbol for the climate impact of Alberta’s oil sands.

Whether they affect Keystone or not, Mr. Obama’s new regulations on coal in the United States are likely to have an impact in Canada.

They could place new cross-border pressure on Canada to cut emissions here, in a crucial sector – oil production.

Mr. Harper has for years pledged to steer Canada’s greenhouse-gas policy close to that of the United States. He has argued that Canada cannot act alone because its economy is closely integrated with that of the United States.

Now, Mr. Obama has put forward a coal proposal that would cut U.S. emissions by about 10 per cent by 2030 – an amount equivalent to all of Canada’s emissions.

In the Commons on Monday, Mr. Harper sought to ensure the comparison between the two countries is about how each treats coal-fired power plants, rather than how each is dealing with greenhouse-gas emissions.

He noted that Canada has already adopted regulations for power plants, and said Mr. Obama is “acting two years after this government acted and taking actions that do not go nearly as far as this government went.”

But coal is not the same thing on either side of the border, noted University of British Columbia professor Kathryn Harrison, an expert on climate policies around the world.

In the United States, “king coal” is the biggest source of emissions. In Canada, coal’s impact is much smaller, and the fastest-growing source of emissions is oil production, notably from Alberta’s oil sands, which will account for 80 per cent of the growth from now to 2020.

The United States is already far ahead of Canada in meeting its emissions targets.

Both Canada and the United States have committed to reducing emissions to 17 per cent below their 2005 levels by 2020. Even before the new coal policy was announced, the United States was on track for a 7.5-per-cent reduction.

“These regulations won’t get it the rest of the way there, but it will close that gap significantly,” Ms. Harrison said. Canada, however, lags. “We’re projecting emissions are going to go up.”

The Conservative government has pledged since 2006 to issue regulations for Canada’s oil sector, but it has repeatedly delayed them – most recently last December, when Mr. Harper said they would take a few more years.

Now that the Obama administration is acting on coal, it will likely take a more aggressive attitude to new international climate negotiations to be held in Paris next year. And as it attempts to push major emerging economies such as China and India to further action, it could press Canada to do more, too.

At the moment, however, it appears that, apart from possible additional delays for approving the Keystone pipeline, any pressure from Washington is likely to be political, rather than economic.

U.S. urges Canada to act on climate change - The Globe and Mail
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The USA generates 40% of its power from coal.

Canada generates 11% of its power from coal.

The USA needs to STFU.
 
Tonington

Tonington

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Oct 27, 2006
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Colpy said:
The USA generates 40% of its power from coal.

Canada generates 11% of its power from coal.

The USA needs to STFU.
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Why quote something you didn't read? It's pretty clear that the US is tackling their largest source of emissions, while we are not. It's all through that text you quoted.

Imagine that the story is about cutting government spending. The US cuts spending in a program that generates 40% of their government's costs. Why would you compare cost cutting measures in Canada to the same program that only accounts for 11% of our costs? Cut both of those programs by 30% each, doesn't achieve the same thing does it? That is not apples to apples.

Illogical.
 
Tonington

Tonington

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EagleSmack said:
Obama's climate regulations could help pressure China... LMFAO

As if China cares if the US slits it's own wrists.
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Maybe you missed this the other day, but the US is already moving away from coal to natural gas without Obama lifting a finger or saying a word. From 2007 to 2012, coal's share of electricity generation went from 48.5% to 37.4%. That is a reduction in coal of 22.9 %. The average then is a reduction of 4.6% per year.

Now, to cut current coal in the inventory by 30%, would mean going from 37.4 to 26.2%, by 2030. That's cutting the coal by... 0.8% per year. The current rate is close to two order of magnitudes higher.

Obama can make this happen by doing nothing. Though it has some people raving mad. Yet power companies have been doing more on their own, due to simple economics. That highlights the crazy pretty well I think.

Are american power companies killing America right now? The last 5 years they've been killing economic opportunities? Yeah right. They've been responding to market pressures all on their own. The ones who haven't, yes they'll probably bitch and moan.
 
EagleSmack

EagleSmack

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Tonington said:


Maybe you missed this the other day, but the US is already moving away from coal to natural gas without Obama lifting a finger or saying a word. From 2007 to 2012, coal's share of electricity generation went from 48.5% to 37.4%. That is a reduction in coal of 22.9 %. The average then is a reduction of 4.6% per year.

Now, to cut current coal in the inventory by 30%, would mean going from 37.4 to 26.2%, by 2030. That's cutting the coal by... 0.8% per year. The current rate is close to two order of magnitudes higher.

Obama can make this happen by doing nothing. Though it has some people raving mad. Yet power companies have been doing more on their own, due to simple economics. That highlights the crazy pretty well I think.

Are american power companies killing America right now? The last 5 years they've been killing economic opportunities? Yeah right. They've been responding to market pressures all on their own. The ones who haven't, yes they'll probably bitch and moan.
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OH F***!

China will be pressured after all then!

 
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BaalsTears

Senate Member
Jan 25, 2011
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Canadians need to surrender their sovereignty and do what Uncle Sam says. Isn't that the way a significant number of Canadians think? If that weren't true why would so many Canadians want to comply with the orders of a foreign potentate?
 
mentalfloss

mentalfloss

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Jun 28, 2010
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Tonington said:
Why quote something you didn't read? It's pretty clear that the US is tackling their largest source of emissions, while we are not. It's all through that text you quoted.

Imagine that the story is about cutting government spending. The US cuts spending in a program that generates 40% of their government's costs. Why would you compare cost cutting measures in Canada to the same program that only accounts for 11% of our costs? Cut both of those programs by 30% each, doesn't achieve the same thing does it? That is not apples to apples.

Illogical.
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That's preposterous Tonnington.

If the U.S. is getting rid of grenades, why should we part with our guns unless they stop selling bullets?!?!

 
Tonington

Tonington

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BaalsTears said:
Canadians need to surrender their sovereignty and do what Uncle Sam says. Isn't that the way a significant number of Canadians think? If that weren't true why would so many Canadians want to comply with the orders of a foreign potentate?
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More Canadians voted for our current government than any of the other parties, and the Prime Minister has said repeatedly that he'd basically do whatever the Americans do. A significant number of Canadians DO think that. Or at the very least, some significant Canadians do think that.
 
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