Canada says it can fight climate change and be major oil nation. Massive fires may force a reckoning

FORT MCMURRAY, Canada (AP) — During a May wildfire that scorched a vast swath of spruce and pine forest in northwestern Canada, Julia Cardinal lost a riverside cabin that was many things to her: retirement project, gift from from her husband, and somewhere to live by nature, as her family had done for generations.

Canada is among roughly 100 nations that have pledged by midcentury to reach “zero emissions,” or take as much greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere as it contributes. At last year’s U.N. climate conference, known as COP27, it also joined other rich nations to promise more money for developing countries to fight climate change.

Yet to the same conference, Canada brought the second-largest delegation of fossil fuel executives of any country in the world, an analysis by The Associated Press found.

Eleven executives from major Canadian oil, gas, and steel companies, including Enbridge and Parkland Corporation attended COP27 — where countries set climate priorities and timelines for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. The only country to send a larger delegation of fossil fuel executives was Russia, AP found.

In Alberta, the industry’s mark on the landscape is profound: over an area larger than New York City, oil companies have carved chunks of earth into open-pit mines plunging hundreds of feet deep, created lake-sized chemical runoff pools and left otherworldly stacks of neon yellow sulfur byproduct. On the sides of roads in the oil sands, air cannons boom periodically to keep birds away from the vast toxic ponds and scarecrows dressed as oil workers float above them.

McIsaac, whose husband works in the oil industry, said that the smoke this year, combined with a major wildfire in 2016, have made more people in town concerned about climate change, even if many residents get their paychecks from the nearby oil patch.

“It really takes a toll on the mental health; just how dreary it is every day,” she said of the smoke.

The wildfires, which scientists say will burn more and longer as the planet warms, will add to the challenge of cutting emissions. They also pose significant health risks to Canadians and anyone who comes in contact with the smoke. |Read more https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/canada-says-it-can-fight-climate-change-and-be-major-oil-nation-massive-fires-may-force-a-reckoning| pbs.org/newshour/world/canada-…

#cdnpoli #abpoli FortMcMurray #wildfires #toxic #smoke #MentalHealth #devastating #sulfur #chemical #runoff #environment

46M Health Professionals Urge Fossil Phaseout as Lancet Countdown Warns of Dire Impacts

With the release of the report, an open letter signed by 46 million health professionals is urging COP President Sultan Al Jaber, who also serves as CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, to “commit to an accelerated, just and equitable phaseout of fossil fuels and invest in a renewable energy transition.”

The findings of the 2023 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change are grim. “Governments, the corporate sector, and banks continue to invest in oil and gas extraction and development even as the “challenges and costs of adaptation soar,” a level “negligence” that is generating “grave and mounting” threats to public health, the authors say in a release.

Any further delays on action to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C pose a “catastrophic threat to the health and survival of billions of people all over the world and to successful adaptation efforts,” the authors add.

Already, “heat-related deaths in people aged over 65 increased by 85% in 2013-2022 compared to 1991-2000, substantially above the 38% increase expected had temperatures not changed,” based solely on changing demographics.

And higher temperatures mean more hunger. “More frequent heatwaves and droughts were responsible for 127 million more people experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity in 122 countries in 2021, than annually between 1981 and 2010,” says the report.

Permitting global temperatures to rise to 2°C by 2100 will be disastrous for human health, especially amongst the already vulnerable, The Lancet writes. Under such a scenario, “yearly heat-related deaths are projected to increase by 370% by mid-century, with heat exposure expected to increase the hours of potential labour lost globally by 50%.”

Meanwhile, “more frequent heatwaves could lead to around 525 million more people experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity by 2041-2060,” producing a higher global risk of malnutrition.

Yet government policies are still allowing climate pollution to rise, the authors say. The global energy system is the “biggest single contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions,” and that output grew 0.9% in 2020, to a record 36.8 billion tonnes. Such growth has been enabled by massive fossil fuel subsidies, provided at the direct expense of struggling health care systems.

“In 2020, 69 of 87 countries (responsible for 93% of all global carbon emissions) provided fossil fuel subsidies to the net value of $305 billion—exceeding 10% of national health spending in 26 of the countries, and 50% in 10 countries.”

The finance sector is also a huge contributor. “The 40 private banks that lend the most to fossil fuels collectively invested US$489 billion every year between 2017 and 2021 in the industry, and over half increased their lending since 2010-2016.”

All this support has allowed the world’s 20 largest fossils to increase production to levels that, should they continue unchecked, “would result in greenhouse gas emissions surpassing levels compatible with 1.5°C of warming by 173% in 2040.” |Read more https://www.theenergymix.com/2023/11/14/46m-health-professionals-urge-fossil-phaseout-as-lancet-countdown-warns-of-dire-impacts/| theenergymix.com/2023/11/14/46…

#cdnpoli #world #COP28 #renewables #challenges #catastrophic #negligence #death #disease #hunger #politics #production #fossil #fuel

Fossil Lobbyists Play Decisive Role in UN Climate Talks, News Analysis Shows

Close to 400 people connected in some way or another to fossil fuel industries attended last year’s United Nations climate talks in Egypt, a grouping that was larger than all but two of the national delegations sent by countries, according to a data analysis of the more than 24,000 participants by The Associated Press.

As United Nations leaders, scientists, and others called for an eventual elimination of coal, oil, and natural gas, various delegations included attendees who in some way owed part or all of their paycheques to fossil fuel burning. Many of these same people, and possibly even more connected to fossil fuels, will likely be at this year’s official climate talks, known as Conference of the Parties or COP, being hosted by the United Arab Emirates, a major oil producing country.

“There’s outsized influence,” said the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity’s Jean Su, who sits on the board that represents civil society and environmental groups at these meetings. “These COPs are often wining-and-dining fests for fossil fuel corporations that want to profit off of climate.”

While the presence is palpable—such as oil countries and companies with huge, flashy stands in the trades pavilions—the influence is hard to quantify because much of the negotiating is done behind closed doors.

As to be expected at a summit focused on the environment, there are many environmental and civil society participants, more than 750 last year by AP’s count. But they say their voices are not being heard, and instead the lobbying of fossil fuel interests is why climate talks have yet to produce an agreement to phase out fossil fuels, as scientists have repeatedly said must happen to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, like extreme weather events.

“People all over the world are suffering and dying from the consequences of the climate crisis caused by these industries who we allow to meet with our politicians and have privileged access to,” climate activist Greta Thunberg said in an October protest in London. “We cannot trust these politicians and we cannot trust the processes of the COPs because the fossil fuel industries are tightening their grip around their processes and dictating their outcomes.”

Right now the problem to solve isn’t fossil fuel,” Pizarro claimed. “The problem to solve is climate.”

Su disagrees and says all utilities are connected to fossil fuels.

“It’s the fox guarding the henhouse and they should not be at the table when it’s governments who have the jurisdiction to regulate,” she said. “They are only accountable to shareholders and governments should have full say over what is best for the public.”

“The (COP) process is broken,” Su told AP. “It’s deeply frustrating.” |Read more https://www.theenergymix.com/2023/11/13/fossil-lobbyists-play-decisive-role-in-un-climate-talks-news-analysis-shows/| theenergymix.com/2023/11/13/fo…

#cdnpoli #world #COP28 #fossilFuelLeaders #increase #oil #gas #methane #coal #pollution #profits #exploitation

Poilievre says he needs to study replacement workers bill before taking position

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Monday he doesn’t yet have a position on the Liberal government’s proposed legislation to ban the use of replacement workers during strikes and lockouts in most federally regulated workplaces.

The bill, known as Bill C-58 in the House of Commons, was introduced last week and will apply to most federally regulated industries such as banking, airports and telecommunications, and ports. It will not apply to the federal public service or workplaces that are regulated by a province or territory.

“We’re going to study the legislation,” Poilievre told reporters at a press conference in Vancouver. “I never take a position before I have had a chance to actually look at what’s written down on paper.”

“I don’t blame the workers who are voting for strikes right now,” Poilievre said.

“Conservatives are 100 per cent on side with workers, union and non-union, who are fighting for pay hikes,” he said.

He laid the blame for rising costs at the feet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government spending.

“If Pierre Poilievre truly supports the rights of working people there is only one way to vote,” she said.

But Payne also pointed to Poilievre’s record when it comes to workers, adding “we are not holding our breath.”

Poilievre has voted multiple times in favour of back-to-work legislation over his nearly 20 years as an MP, including when the former Conservative government was in office. |Read more https://halifax.citynews.ca/2023/11/13/poilievre-says-he-needs-to-study-replacement-workers-bill-before-taking-position/| halifax.citynews.ca/2023/11/13…

#cdnpoli #workers #BillC58 #non-union #unions #Poilievre

Smith Just Exploded Alberta Health Care. What Comes Next?

This isn’t just about Smith’s pre-premiership comments in which she, among other things, pitched the idea of contracting out the operation of hospitals to private bidders and suggested patients might pay out of pocket to see a doctor (ideas she subsequently disowned as premier).

This is about someone who has a record of attacking medical expertise where, as a radio talk-show host, she criticized pandemic restrictions and promoted quack treatments such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.

Ivermectin is an antiparasitic drug. After its discovery in 1975, its first uses were in veterinary medicine to prevent and treat heartworm and acariasis.

Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil among others, is a medication used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where malaria remains sensitive to chloroquine. Other uses include treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and porphyria cutanea tarda.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved the use of either hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) or ivermectin for treating or preventing https://scdhec.gov/covid19/dangers-using-hydroxychloroquine-ivermectin-preventing-or-treating-covid-19 COVID-19 in humans.

During the 2022 United Conservative Party leadership race, Smith fired up support from her anti-mandate, socially conservative base by promising to wreak vengeance against Alberta Health Services for COVID restrictions. She also promised to amend the Alberta Human Rights Act to give official protection to the unvaccinated. On her first day as premier, Smith declared that the wilfully unvaccinated faced the most discrimination she had seen in her 50-year lifetime.

She dutifully fired the AHS board, got rid of Alberta’s chief medical officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, and began the process of undermining what she had called a “lawless” AHS.

This week, we saw just how AHS will be declawed. And how Smith will take more direct political control over health care in the province.

Nobody is saying the current system is perfect, and Albertans rightfully complain about long wait times in the emergency rooms, long wait times for surgery and long wait times to get a family doctor.

But critics say Smith’s upheaval of the system is only going to make things worse.

Steve’s note
It looks to me as if Resolution 3 get passed, quack-doctors can write articles and do interviews telling the public about the great successes they’ve had treating covid with hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. By the look of resolution 16, they’ll have the right to prescribe it to you for covid. |Read more https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/11/14/Smith-Exploded-Alberta-Health-Care/| thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/11/14…

#abpoli #resolutions #covid #ivermectin #hydroxychloroquine #healthcare #AHS #politics