Modeling Journey

James Lovelock, the man who let us into the secret that the earth is a self-regulating organism, now fears that there is nothing we can do to save our earth:

Professor James Lovelock, the scientist who developed Gaia theory, has said it is too late to try and save the planet. The man who achieved global fame for his theory that the whole earth is a single organism now believes that we can only hope that the earth will take care of itself in the face of completely unpredictable climate change.

Keep your fingers crossed for Hope Plus.

"President Barack Obama and Bill Gates are being invited to back a website that promotes social politics.

The web portal, entitled Hope Plus, aims to offer online tools to enable social projects such as building schools and fighting pollution.

Although still being created, the site is billed as "a place where people can meet, congregate and participate..to change the world online".

It aims to launch in December at the Copenhagen Climate Change conference."

If it is launched, this idea could really take off.

Imagine tens of millions of people signing up to help fight global warming ….

Step aside, climate sceptics, the people are on the move!

In an email to Liberals, Ignatieff summarizes the thrust of the new clean energy commitment of the party as follows:

"It starts with the most significant national investment in clean energy jobs this country has ever seen, including:

 Effective incentives that encourage new renewable power projects

 Landmark investments in clean energy infrastructure, especially smart grids

 Expanded incentives for wave, tidal, geothermal, biomass, and other renewable technologies

 Canadian proposals for a continental cap-and-trade system, with hard caps, so we’re driving the agenda not just reacting to Washington

 Aggressive investment in emerging technologies that clean our fossil fuels, such as carbon capture and sequestration

 Mandatory clean energy standards across the federal government (so that government vehicles will be cleaner, government buildings will be energy-efficient, and telecommuting is introduced into our public service to keep cars off the road)

 Above all, a relentless commitment to power Canada on clean energy."

This is a welcome policy by our future government, and drags Canada into the forefront of the fight against global heating, instead of surreptiously trying to sabotage world wide efforts as the Tory government appears to have been doing.

It is important to note that this policy commitment achieves two important objectives: it positions our country to take a leading role in the fight to save our planet, and it will help create new jobs for Canadians to replace the hollowing out of our industrial base which has taken place over the past quarter of a century. Many of these new jobs will be in Canada, and a big whack of the products and services we will develop in this new clean energy industry will bolster our exports, creating more wealth for our country.

If we tackle this new clean energy commitment in the right way, it will help Canada's moral authority in the world, a coinage seriously debased by the Luddism of the current Tory government under Harper's leadership. The old Tory party had a much wider view of Canada's role in the leading the world on to better things; under Harper's watch this has been changed to one of obstruction, denial of facts, and sabotage.

Harper and his Luddites squandered an opportunity to enter this new clean energy industry by targeting an adequate portion of the stimulus package to this industry. Now it is up to the next Liberal government to clean up this Tory mess.

Ignatieff's full speech can be found here.

Another hat tip to the Liberal Party!

Instead of reluctantly facing up the fact of global warming, this is the kind of bold, sharp-edged, and innovative policy which I would expect my Canadian government to be offering:

"Germany launched a campaign Wednesday to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2020, making battery research a priority as it tries to position the country as a market leader.

The program, which draws on euro500 million ($705 million) set aside in an economic stimulus package earlier this year but leaves many financing details up to the next government, drew criticism for being too vague.

"It is our aim to make Germany into the market leader for electric mobility," Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said after the Cabinet approved the plan.
He said the 1 million target by 2020 "is an ambitious aim, but one that we believe can be realized." Germany had more than 41 million cars on the road at the beginning of this year — only 1,452 of them electric cars."

Lead from the front, Canada; establish our country on the cutting edge of climate technology, and create high paying manufacturing and service jobs right here in our provinces.

Instead of wringing your hands, MPs, let's see some imagination.

Let's make sure that over the next fifty years, Canada establishes itself as an industrial leader.

We can do it.
But can our representatives in Parliament?

Just when things seem gloomy, along comes a very bright, very practical idea to reduce the 27% of greenhouse gases created by warming our homes worldwide.
How does it work? By the creation of a new industry which retrofits existing houses without the homeowner having to go into debt, spend money or pay more than he or she is now paying.

This is how it works:

""It is called "Pay As You Save". It's based on a simple premise: that the cost of installing energy efficiency measures be funded through the future savings made on that household's energy bills.

So how does it work? The majority of home energy efficiency measures pay for themselves over a period of time.

Some are quite cheap, such as loft and cavity wall insulation or low-energy lighting.

But others are more expensive, such as suspended wooden floor insulation, new A-rated boilers and particularly solid wall insulation.

Most of us put off installing these measures, particularly the more expensive ones, because we do not think we will get the benefit. It just costs too much upfront; and given we move house, on average, every seven years, why bother?

Pay As You Save is designed to address this problem. Firstly, the upfront cost of measures, for example £10,000, is put up by a third party (such as a bank, retailer or local authority), not the consumer.

Next, your home gets its makeover, carried out by trained and accredited builders, and as a result energy usage is slashed by around half.

Then, from the savings on energy bills, a "standing charge" is repaid, every month, until the original lump sum (plus some interest) has been paid off.

The trick is to structure the scheme so the householder, or tenant for that matter, starts saving money from day one, and always saves more each month than they pay back.

The other key part of the package that enables this to work is that the monthly charge is attached not to the person, but to the property itself and would be paid off over a period of 25 years.

So when the householder moves on, the home's new occupant continues to repay the charge - and recoups more than that in savings."

Perhaps the Liberals should adopt this, and table legislation in the next session of Parliament (which the other two opposition parties will surely support) providing for this to happen asap in Canada?

Recent news reports have touched on the division in the Liberal Caucus between the leader, Dion, and many of the MPs - Dion does not want to take steps to have an election now, when the Tories are vulnerable, but to spend the summer marketing his carbon tax concept.

But that is not what causes me alarm. Rather, Dion is reported as not being in favour of adding a cap and trade element to the Liberal Party's global warming policy plank.

He is reported as saying that this 'confuses' the issue.

Dion is wrong. Harper's Tories have already started to brand his global warming as a tax increase. To roll out half a policy on global warming is not politically wise.

Nor is it wise political leadership.

Dion should roll out a comprehensive energy policy, including a cap and trade initiative.

Come to think of it, Dion should, as leader, roll out a series of political policies, so as to give Canadian voters reasons for voting FOR the Liberals, not just against Harper's Tories. Leaders should have policies.

Where are Dion's?