National Action Plan is Needed
As I packed my bags to depart for Canada’s North, I was confronted with the front page of Huffington Post. A full screen banner read “Canada is Melting.” In his article, Michael Bolen, reviews a 259 page report form the federal government that describes how Canada is warming at roughly the global average over the last half century. With no national plan for addressing climate change, he wonders how long we can keep our heads in the sand.
As Prime Minister Stephen Harper said recently: “No matter what they say, no country is going to take actions that are going to deliberately destroy jobs and growth in their country. We are just a little more frank about that.”
The Natural Resources Canada report states that Canada warmed by an average of 1.5°C between 1950 and 2010 and that the trend will continue. It also states that some changes represent challenges and others are opportunities. Encouraging the government to take a forward-thinking rather than react stance, the paper is not all doom and gloom. The study expresses optimism that extreme weather in the future will lead to more “adaptation” on the part of government, industry and the public.
Read more in Bolen’s article here.
