IPCC report is out.

[El_Machinae]

IPCC is the global consensus that something should be done about CO2 pollution, and really needs to be done or else there will be massive, massive problems.

I'm trying to get a feeling for what's considered to be solutions in the locale you live in. What are the politicians and the public leaning towards as things that should be done?

Tell me what your family, or friends, or coworkers are recommending!

(If you're going to knock the science of climate change, please give a specific and detailed objection, and then maybe pay attention to what the response to those objections are).

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Well, it is Alberta, so at a time when they are predicting that we are going to lose a lot of our water supply in climate change, the government has allowed a good deal of that supply to be pump deep into the ground for tarsands excavation (not exactly a GHG-lite process in itself). Our provincial government has got to be one of the most incompetent in the developed world, and are lucky as hell that they have tons of oil.

On the municipal level, Calgary isn't doing bad. In general, the move is towards a more compact, less automobile intensive built form. The city is also doing its best to focus on transit-oriented development. The problem is that provinces really have the ultimate power over cities in Canada, meaning Calgary has little power of taxation to fund any farsighted infrastructure/environmental programs. Everything is at the whim of the Alberta Conservatives, who seem more interested in building massive ring roads and cutting taxes to nil.

Another tidbit. Alberta has a freaking cap on the number of wind turbines that can be built in the province (the government is an oil industry puppet). Pioneering Alberta wind power companies have to build new turbines in Ontario and Quebec instead. This may be a small thing in the scheme of things, but it is indicative of the lunacy where I live.

 

[Urederra]

[size=+2]FUTUREGEN[/size]

 

[El_Machinae]

I think that Alberta has the first Canadian legislation that taxes CO2 emissions, which is at least something.

Among my peers, I've noted that there is very little insight into the issue. They're not really all that sure what the problem is, much less how to fix it.

 

[Abaddon]

If anyone had an answer. we would be doing it

 

[El_Machinae]

I'm mostly interested in what people are thinking at a local level. There are probably going to be a multitude of solutions that people want to implemented