Green news irony

Sometimes there are two news stories released in a day that are coincidentally ironic. The Canadian government fell victim to such an irony yesterday.

The Conservatives have been scrambling to improve their image in a green light after figuring out that Canadians see it as a priority. Even though Canadians have named the environment as a top concern in polls taken since the late '90s, the Torys didn't get the hint until Rona Ambrose's plan was met with harsh criticism.

So yesterday they made an announcement intended to convince Canadians they'd turned a new leaf. Too bad for them that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists decided to wave their "the end is nigh" sign on the same day.

On their "doomsday clock," used to warn of nuclear annihilation for over 50 years, the new threat of environmental catastrophe was added. These scientists are so concerned about global warming that they say the human race is a metaphorical five-minutes to doomsday.

"Carbon-burning technologies continue to make the Earth warmer at an unprecedented rate," the Bulletin's website warns.

In the face of apocalypse, the Conservatives plan is underwhelming so far. Natural Resources MInister Gary Lunn announced $238 million for research and development of cleaner energy sources such as clean coal.

Fact is, this is just a fraction of the amount of money the Conservatives cut from environmentally-improving programs since they came to power. Plus, environmentalists are panning the announcement, saying commitment to R&D is good, but technologies exist now to make clean energy.

It's just a tactic to buy time. The Conservatives are trying to look like they're green while not offending the voters of Alberta, their Canadian stronghold where they hold every seat.

Albertans might see any move away from using carbon-producing fossil fuels as a blow to their oil-sands dependent economy, and then punish the Conservatives for such a move.

That's why Lunn is more interested in developing cleaner fossil-fuel technologies rather than using already-existing clean energy alternatives.

"The technology to substantially reduce emissions in the short term is not available," said Pierre Alvarez, the president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

Of course, what Mr. Alvarez really means is that the fossil fuel industry doesn't know how to cut their emissions - and he's guarding against the consideration of other energy technologies.