Dear editor:
I am old enough to remember the 1970s when the predominant mantra was that a new ice age was about to engulf the planet and kill us all. Didn’t happen.
I also remember the Y2K scare when the “experts” were certain we were going to be plunged back into the dark ages when all the world’s computers were to lose their collective mind when dates started with 20 instead of 19. Didn’t happen.
Then there was the massive global misdirection around the onset of the new millennium. People in positions of authority whipped the world’s billions of inhabitants into celebrating the new century and new millennium as the clock struck midnight December 31, 1999. Well, they were 366 days early.
Maybe the global warming experts will have better luck.
Those experts now project a catastrophic outcome due to global warming and blame human activity. Is there evidence of global warming? Yes, some, but the extent is, and should be, debatable.
Is human activity the cause? No. Does human activity contribute to global warming? Yes. Is the oil industry, particularly Alberta’s oil sands, the only culprit? Hardly.
Natural sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) (carbon dioxide and methane) include oceans, wetlands, wild animals, soil, plants and termites (don’t laugh; it is significant - look it up).
Man-made sources, globally, include fossil fuels, (of which coal comprises 43 per cent, oil, 36 per cent, natural gas, 20 per cent). In the bigger picture, fossil fuels contribute 33 per cent, livestock farming, 27 per cent, landfills, 16 per cent, biomass burning, 11 per cent, rice agriculture, nine per cent and other, four per cent.
Other serious factors to consider (are they factored into the “experts” predictions?) include solar cycles (sun spots and radiation) and the numerous and extremely complex cycles caused by the very complicated paths carved out by planet earth due to its elliptical orbit, but especially due to the tilt of the axis; see wikipedia.org/wiki/milankovitch_cycles.
Data reported by the Alberta government a few years ago showed that Alberta’s oilsands were at that time responsible for 23 per cent of Canadian GHG emissions, eight per cent of Alberta’s, and a whopping 0.15 per cent of global GHG emissions. Put another way, 99.85 per cent of global GHG emissions do not come from Alberta’s oilsands. As an aside, the dirtiest oil, despite the noises coming from south of our border, is not Alberta bitumen from oilsands, but California heavy from its tarsands: see oilsands.alberta.ca/ghg/html
The oil companies have spent billions of dollars researching and developing new and better ways to produce oil from the oilsands, and that has resulted in continuous reductions in emissions per barrel.
Shutting down the oilsands, crushing Alberta’s economy and crippling Canada at the same time, would have no impact on efforts to save the world. It would, in fact, be irresponsible and irrational.
Those with a passion to bring about significant improvements should direct their efforts to protesting in the two largest (by far) global emitters, those being the United States and China (good luck with that). Those bent on a sudden halt to the use of petroleum would also be well advised to review the list of products that flow from petroleum and see if they think they would survive without them; that list containing hundreds of products.
In any case, Canadians need to grow a spine and stand up to the questionable tactics of protesters who seem determined to kill our industries in Canada. We need to stop being so compliant and allowing ourselves to be guilted into accepting highly questionable claims and tactics by groups who have their own, perhaps disguised agendas.
We also need to remember that experts are not infallible.
Bruce Bladon
