Pumping more oil while the house burns down: how long will the fantasy last? – Hill Times
July 29, 2024
Fossil fuels still hugely contribute to provincial coffers and the federal treasury, but too so would green energy alternatives if given a chance to flourish instead of being undermined by the Alberta government.
CHELSEA, QUE.—You really wonder what it’s going to take to shake us from our willful blindness.
Our forests and communities burn at accelerating rates. One day downtown Toronto is awash in flood water; the next, iconic Jasper National Park is aflame. Winter is gradually retreating. Summers are becoming unbearable in some cities, especially for the elderly and those without air conditioning. Each new year brings once-in-a-lifetime climate emergencies. A recent Sunday was the hottest ever recorded globally—until the record was smashed the next day.
Yet we allow our fossil-fuel industry to continue polluting—to actually increase production—to make promises it has shown it has no intention of keeping, while we wait for some imagined technology that will keep the oil (and profits) flowing and emissions magically shrinking.
