Red Green on climate change: we're getting too comfortable

First it was "global warming". After a couple of unusually harsh winters, the Luddites, liberals and tree-huggers changed the the name of the game to "climate change". That way they were covered no matter whether the temperature went up or down. But ordinary people like Walt (and you, dear reader) remain unconvinced. So now it's been upgraded to a "CLIMATE EMERGENCY". So says the Liberal majority in Canada's House of Commons, in a vote taken in the last days of the current Parliament.

Last night the Canuck Minister of the Environment and Climate Change [sic] Catherine McKenna (aka "Climate Barbie") put forward a motion describing climate change as a "real and urgent crisis, driven by human activity." In their wisdom, the MPs noted how the "crisis" is impacting Canadians, and affirmed the need to pursue clean growth methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The House of Commons passed the motion declaring a national climate emergency, and supporting Canada’s commitment to meet the Paris Agreement emissions targets, by a vote of 186-63, with only Andrew Scheer's Conservatives mildly opposed.

"CLIMATE EMERGENCY! Lordy, lordy! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" Walt doesn't believe it. Every day, when I log into Win10, Bill Gates shows me pictures from around the world of beautiful natural landscapes, untouched by fire, flood or other disasters attributable to "climate change". Here is a picture I took just a couple of weeks ago -- postcard quality, if I do say so myself -- of one such scene.

When Two Jack Lake dries up, or is covered in ice in July, or a bubbling brown pool of shit, then and only then can you talk to me about "climate emergency"!

On the same point, kind of... I just stumbled upon a short essay by my old buddy Steve Smith (aka Red Green), from Duct Tape Is Not Enough (Hatherleigh Press 2002). It's called "We're Getting Too Comfortable".

Every generation gets a little wimpier than the one before it. Our ancestors lived in wooden shacks without running water or electricity. We have central heat, central air, central vac...humidifiers, dehumidifiers, carbon filters, ozone detectors, smoke detectors, chest protectors, bomb deflectors and house inspectors.

We can push one button in our house and another in our car and as long as we have an attached garage, we will never leave an atmosphere of constant temperature, humidity, oxygen content, and clarity. It makes for an easy, comfortable life, but, over time, Mother Nature will devolve us to the point where we can't handle any change in our environment.

Sure it might be nice to never shiver or sweat -- but not if it means that every time you open the fridge or oven door, you have a massive cardiac infarction. So don't try so hard to make it so easy. Human beings survive a lot better when they have something to fight against.