Carl Pope sends some interesting ruminations from Canada:
It’s not that Canada (or Europe) necessarily does a better job of environmental stewardship. Canada’s greenhouse emissions — driven by production of oil for the U.S. market — have actually increased faster than those in the United States.
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What’s different here is that the dialogue feels more honest. The media actually try to describe reality rather than falling back on critiquing spin. Although the reporting may be opinionated, biased, or even wrong, it remains (at least modestly) connected to the real world. Consider global warming. Canada is a country that cynics in the U.S. like to offer as a proof that “a little warming wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.” Canadians suffer no such illusions. … Little wonder that eighty percent of Canadians are proud that their nation has ratified Kyoto.
Canadians are desperate to find a way to get the U.S. back in the game. They struggled to get their government to agree to host the United Nations global warming conference in Montreal this fall. Their leaders were told that this was a foolish idea — that the Bush administration would make them regret it — but the public insisted, and its voice was heeded. The signers of the Kyoto agreement will meet in Montreal in November. Canada wants to use that meeting to enlist Americans — on both side of the U.S./Canada border — to join the struggle for a viable climactic future. The passion, the fury, the fear, and the hope are tangible and exciting.
