Canada First Nation To Pull Out of Kyoto Accord

Hugh Pickens writes "Canada will become the first country to formally withdraw from the Kyoto protocol on climate change, dealing a symbolic blow to the troubled global treaty. 'Kyoto, for Canada, is in the past,' says Environment Minister Peter Kent. 'We are invoking our legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto.' Kent, a Conservative, says the Liberals should not have signed up to a treaty they had no intention of respecting and says Ottawa backs a new global deal to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, but insists it has to cover all nations, including China and India, which are not bound by Kyoto's current targets. Kent adds that meeting Canada's obligations under Kyoto would cost $13.6 billion: 'That's $1,600 from every Canadian family — that's the Kyoto cost to Canadians, that was the legacy of an incompetent liberal government.' Kent's announcement came just hours after negotiators in Durban managed to thrash out an agreement at the very last minute — an agreement to begin a new round of talks on a new agreement in the years ahead. 'Staying under 2C will require drastic, immediate action — with global emissions peaking in the next five years or so,' writes Brad Plummer. 'The Durban Platform, by contrast, merely prods countries to come up with a new agreement that will go into effect no later than 2020.'"

Comments

This will undoubtedly be marked troll

[bradley13]

This will undoubtedly be marked troll, but I'll try anyway: No, we are not headed for a wall.

There is a great deal of evidence (if only the media would let you see it) that global temperatures have not risen for more than 10 years. Ice extent in Antarctica is near record levels. Yes, we should avoid trashing our planet. However, climate is complex, and CO2 levels have a vanishingly small impact - except on the funding of particular groups.

None of the climate models yet produced have successfully predicted anything. Tropical storms are not more intense. Sea levels are not rising any faster than they have been since the end of the last ice age. Etc, etc.

So: why should we invest billions and trillions of dollars based on models and predictions that do not work?

Kudos to Canada.

Re:We could learn a thing or two....

[Third Position]

And meanwhile the scientists are debating whether we are passing the threshold of catastrophic changes the next few years, or if we already have passed it.

If we've already passed the threshold of catastrophic changes, does that mean the envirowhacks will finally shut up, leave us alone, and quietly prepare for the apocalypse?

I didn't think so.