Posts
The
Canadian War on Science
And from today.
Climate change denial and suppression of science
Seemorerocks
The
position of the Harper government is well-known on human rights (and
notably indigenous rights, as well as its shameful road to mining tar
sands in Alberta and other crimes against the planet.
A
few weeks ago I took an interest in the plight of polar bears. In
response to my query Gulo Gulo from Alaska opined that researchers “
are afraid to - polar bear scientists are put under house
arrest....I was not kdding about scientists fearful these days
“
That
seemed a little exagerated, but I received the following quote from a
Canadian academic (who I will not name) :
“Environment
Canada currently closing science centres around the ice pack at the
North Pole despite chronic ice melt… the politicians don’t want
to hear the bad news…”
There
is no doubt in my mind that there is a media blackout when it comes
to the bad news that is coming out on climate change. How much of
this is coming from government policy I cannot say.
However,
in this country, New Zealand there is absolute silence
in the media.
No
connection is made between increasing extreme weather events, and
except for major events (such as the planet reaching the 400 ppm
threshold) there is no coverage, and whatever there is is totally
devoid of context or interpretation.
This
is something I have been witnessing ever since I began this blog.
By
contrast, Australian official organisations have been coming up with
some excellent material making the link between extreme hot weather
events and climate change.
Recently
the ABC made an excellent documentary about this that has been
watched around the world.
So,
I would hazard a guess that a lot of this does come from government
policy and that if a climate change skeptic conservative government
is returned the articles will dry up as they have in New Zealand and
Canada.
I
have discovered a Candian journalist, Margaret Munro who has done an
excellent job in chronicling the government.
First
this excellent article chroncling the muzzling of science by the
fascist Canadian government.
“It
is a government that is beholden to big business, particularly big
oil, and that makes every attempt to shape public policy to that end.
It is a government that fundamentally doesn’t believe in science.
It is a government that is more interested in keeping its corporate
masters happy than in protecting the environment.”
Margaret
Munro has covered the muzzling and suppression of science in Canada.
Opposition
to federal science cuts is getting louder, with top researchers and
academics urging the Harper government to rescind curbs on basic
research and its plan to close a unique experimental lakes facility.
An
open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the environment and
fisheries ministers was released Tues-day, denouncing the decision to
stop funding the Experimental Lakes Area, a celebrated federal
research facility in northwestern Ontario which was instrumental in
banning phosphorus in deter-gents and stopping acid rain.
The
fostering of climate denial and junk science...
A
Conservative MP has been peddling what researchers describe as
“bogus” information on polar bears and citing U.S. climate
skeptics as experts on the iconic creatures.
In
a letter that shocked scientists, Yukon MP Ryan Leef said: “The
global polar bear population has quadrupled over the last 40 years.”
The
letter, which Leef wrote to a constituent in February, said many
“pessimistic studies” about the bears have been judged
“unscientific and inconsequential to decision makers” by U.S.
researchers. The researchers he refers to are well-known climate
skeptics.
A
University of Waterloo physicist made the bold claim Thursday that
global warming is not caused by carbon dioxide but by “CFCs
conspiring with cosmic rays.”
In
a report that has raised plenty of eyebrows among climate scientists,
Waterloo’s Qing-Bin Lu says chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chemicals
once used widely as refrigerants and propellants, are to blame for
global warming since the 1970s and “not carbon dioxide.”
She
might be one of the few journalists to give real coverage to climate
science in the country
The
Laurentide ice sheet once entombed Canada in two kilometres of ice,
but all that is left is a blob of ice on Baffin Island now shrinking
at a remarkable rate.
Scientists
say the remnant of the once massive ice sheet is melting twice as
fast as it was 50 years ago, which helps explain why Canada’s
Arctic plays a lead role in stoking global sea level rise.
A
new study says glaciers around the world are contributing almost as
much to the rise of the world’s oceans as the Greenland and
Antarctica ice sheets combined
Last and not least I found this 2012 article.
The
stepped-up authoritarian, anti-democratic manner Stephen Harper
conducts himself since obtaining his Parliamentary majority nine
months ago raises serious concerns about how far right he is planning
to push the country in his effort to forever change the face of
Canada.
Harper
hates many things about Canada—most of all the moderate liberalism
that a majority of people have preferred over the years. He has
adopted a ‘take-no-prisoners’ attitude, rushing ahead with
destructive plans never before discussed in public, as well as
doubling cuts to government compared to what he said before the
election.
Elected
with the support of only 25 per cent of eligible voters, Harper
nevertheless is running roughshod over the wishes and interests of
the majority 75 per cent of Canadians.
So,
just how extreme is Harper’s behaviour?
Like
many of you, I was shocked to hear that a member of the Prime
Minister’s Office had sent an email asking staff in other
ministers’ offices to compile lists of “enemy stakeholders.”
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