November 25th, 2008 Andrew Cash
Sure, turbines are great, but eco-bullies could tone down the sermon
By Andrew Cash
Ah, there’s nothing quite like a public meeting in Scarborough to make me feel nostalgic for my childhood home – and for the merits of good old-fashioned political education.
The wind energy showdown, Monday, November 24, at Laurier Collegiate in Scarborough’s Guildwood Village seems, at first glance, like a classic NIMBY battle pitting local residents against downtown greenies and Toronto Hydro bureaucrats.
But it doesn’t really look that way to me, despite the fact that I’m blown away (excuse the pun) by the idea that wind fanning off the Bluffs could power the city’s first turbine operation.
I guess the problem here is that this isn’t an Ontario Municipal Board hearing where folks have to pack the hall because the process is unfair and rich lawyers are trying to take over neighbourhoods for rich developers.
This is a Q&A – one already cancelled once for lack of space – where residents have their sole chance to get Toronto Hydro to address their concerns.
Enviros, hyped and over-organized, don’t seem to get that this is their big opportunity to meet the community, find common ground and ultimately win them over.
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November 12th, 2008 Andrew Cash
If new prez backs the eco sector, our green entrepreneurs will be left out of the loop
By Andrew Cash
Why, when those dudes in the Wall Street suits start losing coin, do governments magically seem to find consensus, time for hastily called meetings and, oh yeah, trillions of dollars to bolster the financial system using money no one could previously locate, to, well, save the planet?
What a mess. But there is a new guy at the helm to the south – and he actually did promise to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 and create 5 million new green jobs. The problem for us here, though, is if Barack Obama actually does use the financial crisis to sink cash into eco industries, Canada will have squandered a golden opportunity to share the gains.
Shit, didn’t some geeky professor who once led the Liberals go on and on about this stuff recently?
Graham Saul of Climate Action Network Canada says it neatly: “If the Americans invest big time in the green economy, Canada is out of the game.” You can understand the magnitude of this, he says, if you imagine what it would have been like if Canada had decided to take a pass on the information technology sector.
That’s actually what our feds’ eco foot-dragging is costing us, he says. “There is no indication this government connects the dots between green jobs and economic stimulus.”
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