Why Canadians Like Global Warming

"This may be a shock, but the negotiators Canada assigns to international negotiations (like Copenhagen) are there to represent the interests of Canada, not the interests of Mali." Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Here is a quote that might play well for a week or two with Harper’s political supporters, but one he will end up regretting because it reveals his short-sightedness for posterity. It also seems to betray a stunning lack of awareness that the Arctic Ocean borders the northern coast of Canada, and that climate change is already having an impact on its currents. What I find most interesting about the quote is what it reveals about the confusion in the minds of the average Canadian regarding climate change.

Although climate change is the most appropriate term to describe the consequences we risk as the result of excessive carbon build up, it is still common to hear people in these parts use the phrase "global warming." Here’s the problem with that dated description--global warming has largely been good to Canada. Let’s face it, we live in a country that is cold and snowbound for at least three months of the year even if you live in the south. The milder winters have been more comfortable, and a rainfall in January is more likely now than ever before. Ask anyone sick of shoveling their driveway more than once a week and you’ll find few people willing to take up arms in the fight against global warming. Sure we’ve read news reports about the thousands of Inuit whose way of life is being challenged by melting ice and the changing weather’s impact on animals and their habitats, but too few Canadians have been to the Arctic to even appreciate the Inuit way of life, let alone understand how someone could complain about fewer days with -40 degrees Celsius temperatures.

What this reasoning fails to account for is that we cannot control the amount of "global warming" we want like we can a thermostat in our homes. As much as bumping the temperature up one or two degrees has seemed beneficial, we can't afford to go up another one or two to see if we like it or not. If climate change then begins to hurt us closer to home, there's no easy way to turn the thermostat back down and have everything return to normal.

I don’t know what impact a disappeared Pacific island will have on Canada’s climate, let alone a severe drought in Mali, but my rational mind tells me that we do not live in a bubble that makes us immune from the climate events caused by increased carbon emissions. On a practical level, the residents of these places could become refugees. Given Canada’s history, we would certainly take some of them in. As the western United States runs out of potable water, who will they turn to for a fresh supply? The pursuit of today’s economic opportunities would then be responsible for yet another strain on our environment. As Canadians, we owe it to ourselves to be stewards of our land, water, and air. If we can do that, we just might find ourselves acting like good global citizens as well, even if it is by accident.