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Hijacking of Earth Day by climate activists remains a serious problem for everyone concerned about the environment

Peter Kent’s Earth Day gift to Canadians: 24 hours without the climate scare

By Tom Harris ——--April 28, 2013

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Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent gave us an unexpected gift on April 22: his Earth Day speech focused on real environmental protection and included nothing at all about climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide.
Before discussing this encouraging development, let's look at how Climatism, "The Belief that Man-Made Greenhouse Gases are Destroying Earth's Climate" (ref: Climate Science Coalition of America Executive Director, Steve Goreham), hijacked much of Earth Day 2013, pushing aside important concerns such as river, ocean and ground water clean-up. The most obvious example was Earth Day Network itself, the major organization behind Earth Day. They focused so intensely on climate change on their website this year that one would think they were promoting 'Climate Day'. Here is an image from their home page: Naturally, many politicians followed suit. President Barack Obama made climate change the main emphasis of his Earth Day 2013 Presidential Proclamation asserting:
"We cannot afford to ignore what the overwhelming judgment of science tells us: that climate change is real and that it poses an urgent threat to our people and our planet. That is why my Administration set historic fuel efficiency standards that will nearly double how far our cars go on a gallon of gas while reducing harmful carbon pollution. ..."Today, America is sending less carbon pollution into the environment than we have in nearly 20 years. But we owe it to our children to do more. That is why I have called on the Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change. In the meantime, I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions to reduce pollution".
Obama often labels carbon dioxide (CO2) as "carbon" and "pollution". Anyone who remembers their grade 5 science knows that this is a serious mistake. CO2 is an invisible, odourless and naturally-occurring substance essential to plant photosynthesis and so to all life on Earth. It is anything but a pollutant. Obama's distortion is likely intentional. He must know that incorrectly labeling CO2 as carbon and pollution supports the idea that it is something dirty like soot and so justifies government action to control it. No honest politician would stoop to this sort of trickery. Nevertheless, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was worse, becoming hysterical in his climate-focused Earth Day speech, exclaiming, "The science is screaming at all of us and demands action" on global warming. Several states made seemingly impressive climate-related announcements on Earth Day:

  • Massachusetts launched the Electric Vehicle Incentive Program, to help the state reach their draconian Global Warming Solutions Act emission reduction goals.
  • Massachusetts also launched a new dashboard for Global Warming Solutions Act initiatives.
  • New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said, "we will continue to press for much tougher protections, including fighting against climate change pollution".
In Canada's House of Commons, opposition MPs pounded the Government about climate change on Earth Day:
  • Ms. Kirsty Duncan (Etobicoke North, Lib.): "The government has abdicated any national leadership role in combating climate change, the most pressing environmental issue facing the planet."
  • Hon. Thomas Mulcair (Leader of the Opposition, NDP): "Canada has failed miserably in terms of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. The Conservatives made Canada the one and only country to withdraw from the Kyoto accord. Also for the first time, unlike any other country in the world, the Conservatives withdrew from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification."
  • Ms. Megan Leslie (Halifax, NDP): "Earth Day is a good day to review the Conservatives' environmental record. They withdrew from the Kyoto protocol ...they called into question the science of climate change..."
  • Ms. Anne Minh-Thu Quach (Beauharnois‚ÄîSalaberry, NDP): "We know that global greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise, and if we do nothing, we could surpass the 2¬∞C threshold, which would have irreversible consequences. Denying the truth will not help us find solutions."
Dozens of environmental groups issued similarly exaggerated climate-focused Earth Day statements.
  • Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said, "If you love the Earth, you need to know some things about tar sands crude ‚Äì starting with how it would affect the climate of this wonderful planet we all share. Actually, ‚Äòaffect' is probably the wrong word. We're talking wholesale destruction."
  • Gene Karpinski, president at the League of Conservation Voters, blogged, "One of the best ways to celebrate Earth Day is to continue working to combat climate change and protect our planet for future generations. With 2012 being the hottest year on record in the continental United States and climate change fueling deadly and costly floods, droughts, wildfires, and Superstorm Sandy, it's clear that the time to act is now."
Businesses used the heavy climate focus of Earth Day to their advantage as well, for example:
  • Solar Energy Industries Association inaugurated a $7 million solar installation to supply power to insurance company Assurant Specialty Property. Assurant boasted that the project "translates to a reduction of more than 1,400 tons of CO2."
  • Aetna, one of America's major health care benefits companies, announced that a new 975 panel solar array has been installed in Windsor, Connecticut to power a major portion of their facility there. Aetna proclaimed, "The environmental savings [sic] generated by the solar installation will equate to 189 metric tons of CO2."
Perhaps surprisingly, Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent resisted this trend. In an Earth Day announcement that included nothing about climate change or greenhouse gases, Kent and his Alberta counter-part Diana McQueen instead discussed a practical, science-based plan to enhance public access to real pollution data from the oilsands. In his Earth Day speech at Carleton University, Kent said:
"Today, we are launching a new online Joint Data Portal for accessing oil sands environmental data. This Joint Data Portal provides the public with ongoing access to the credible scientific data collected through the Joint Oil Sands Monitoring Plan and the methodology used to produce it. "With this monitoring plan we committed to a scientifically rigorous, comprehensive, integrated, and transparent environmental monitoring plan to deliver the most scientifically-credible picture of the water, air, land and biodiversity issues in the region."
The associated government media release and technical reports were also completely climate scare-free. This makes sense. While we do need good pollution data to properly protect the environment in the vicinity of the oil sands, it will clearly have no impact on global climate. Even in his House of Commons responses to Earth Day attacks from opposition MPs, Kent avoided directly supporting the climate scare. Here is an example where he answers attacks on the government's climate policies:
Hon. Peter Kent (Minister of the Environment, CPC): "Mr. Speaker, Earth Day is a wonderfully appropriate time for the opposition to reflect on the significant investments in budget 2013 in Canada's environmental priorities. We have invested a quarter of a billion dollars in building up the Canadian weather service. We are investing in conservation of ecologically sensitive lands and fish habitat....[the government] is committed to developing Canada's abundant natural resources while at the same time strengthening environmental protections. Earlier today, I had the pleasure, along with Alberta's minister of the environment, to announce federal and provincial environmental monitoring data of air, water, and biodiversity on an Internet portal. This joint plan represents a scientific undertaking that is unprecedented in Canada."
It is worth note that Prime Minister Stephen Harper also avoided Obama-like climate proclamations on Earth Day. And the ceiling did not collapse on Harper and Kent for their transgressions against the Church of Global Warming. Aside from the predictable attacks from political opponents and climate activists, most coverage of the Government's Earth Day announcements was neutral and some was positive. Hopefully this refreshingly science-based approach to Earth Day is an indication of a shift in the Government's focus away from futile climate control plans to real environmental protection that we can actually accomplish. All cabinet ministers must follow Kent's Earth Day lead and strictly avoid climate change rhetoric in their speeches from now on. They also need to direct their departments to remove global warming mistakes from their websites and other communications. We have real environmental problems to address, but influencing global climate is not one of them. Despite this progress, the hijacking of Earth Day by climate activists remains a serious problem for everyone concerned about the environment. As the hypothesis that humanity's CO2 emissions are causing dangerous global warming falls into disrepute, those associated with the global warming alarm will also lose credibility. Earth Day participants, indeed all practical environmentalists, must distance themselves from the ideologically-driven climate scare or risk the movement degenerating into irrelevance.

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Tom Harris——

Tom Harris is Executive Director of the Ottawa, Canada-based International Climate Science Coalition at http://www.icsc-climate.com.

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