Can Canada meet Kyoto?

Can Canada meet its Kyoto Protocol GHG emission targets?

Consider that Kyoto is a tiny step on the way towards much larger steps that will be required to avoid death for millions. So I think the answer is necessarily yes (and so do Canadians for Kyoto). Ask Aron Ralston, the mountain climber, whether it was possible to escape when his arm got trapped under an 800-pound boulder for five days.

Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, in the Globe and Mail today, says the answer is certainly yes when you include the Kyoto Protocol “loopholes” that allow us to partially buy our way out of our legal obligations. She says that in any case, abandoning this international process will lead to diplomatic disaster followed by environmental catastrophe.

May predicts that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will introduce intensity targets (less emission per unit of production, but ultimately more emissions) and hopes “the voters are as smart as the atmosphere”.