NS Energy Security, and G8 Plans for 42 years from now

Hi everyone,

With all of the focus on international climate issues, it was good to see news about Nova Scotia make the press today. Too bad it wasn't good news. A study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives stated that close to 90% of Nova Scotia's energy supply comes from vulnerable sources such as imported coal and oil. Because of this, we are at great risk of price fluctuation and supply interruption. The article did not indicate which resources we get from where, but I can tell you that the majority of our coal comes from Columbia, which is not "clean coal" nor is it mined in a ethical manner (google "blood coal", if you have the stomach for it). The problem is that dirty coal is cheep, so cheep in fact that it is too expensive to use the much cleaner Natural Gas we produce right off the coast of NS. (it is pumped to New England where the rates of electricity are double what they are here.) Hopefully, we will soon see a mechanism in place such as Carbon Trading which will allow renewable energy to be less expensive, and burning dirty coal more expensive, since the Government of Nova Scotia has constantly put the bottom line before ethics and the environment. We can produce 6 times the energy we use from the wind in NS, but we only use it for 1%. One down, 599 to go.

Here is the article: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2007/06/07/energy-security.html

At the G8, the leaders of the worlds most powerful countries came to a "landmark agreement" that there should be drastic cuts to GHG emissions, not only long after they leave office, but long after they are all dead: 2050. What a joke. I expected this from Harper and Bush, but i'm truly disappointed in the other leaders who should have pushed harder for short term targets. There is nothing binding in this agreement, just rhetoric. The fact that Harper says that "more extensive discussion is required" is a scandalous stalling tactic. The world is at a breaking point, and they still stall for time so their friends in the oil industry can have a view more years of record profits and oil sands production can quadruple.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/06/07/g8-climatechange.html

pardon my frustration
Dan