Hello Gentle Readers:
 Here is a quote from Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Space X.
 " Money is a tool for labor allocation and only government action with a revenue-neutral Carbon Tax can change the system". He said this at the University of Sorbonne in France days before the Paris climate talks.
   Mr. Musk believes that companies like Exon are so powerful it will take decades to slow and stop them from creating pollution. He believes a Carbon Tax is the only way to help them change towards alternative systems of energy production. Musk proposes that all world governments implement Taxes on fossil fuels in order to encourage the creation and production of alternative energy systems and he wants us to talk to our  local politicians and ask what they are doing to stop pollution.
   I agree with Elon Musk and I have one more idea. Create an Electric / Hydrogen hybrid vehicle that can beat the fastest gas car and can go further without fossil fuels than any other car on the market and which will sell at a low affordable price for average consumers and then watch the system change within Five years, not Thirty. One final thought. There are over Two Billion Cars and Trucks burning gas on the roads of the World and if you include Volcanoes and factories around the World belching pollution, our future  looks bleak. Now read what GreenPeace is doing to help stop climate change.

The tar sands now have their ceiling, we need to bring it down.

Blogpost by Mike Hudema - December 5, 2015 at 12:58Add comment

The night of Alberta's historic announcement of a 100 MT cap on tar sands emissions, I breathed a sigh of relief - the days of the endless expansion of the tar sands were over. The tar sands finally had their limit.

The next morning, I got up and went to work to ensure not another piece of tar sands infrastructure is built. The tar sands must never come close to reaching the cap, instead they need to head in the other direction. That is what the science and justice demands.

Rachel Notley took a brave stand against an endlessly expanding dirty industry when she made her announcement and she started Alberta down the path toward a renewable energy economy. The image of industry and environmental leaders who stood side by side with her on that stage sent a powerful message that the climate had finally become a priority for Albertans and Canadians. More needs to be done but the first significant steps had been taken.

Now questions are being raised about the process that led to this announcement. There have been allegations of a "secret deal" between some environmental groups and oil companies, with some claiming that if the companies agreed to the cap, the environmental groups promised to “ease off on their tar sands campaigns.”

As someone who has lived and breathed this campaign for the past 9 years, and who answers to thousands of supporters and allies across the country and around the world, I can assure you that Greenpeace was never involved in any "deals.” Greenpeace holds its independence dearly. Moreover, First Nations and communities from coast to coast have made it clear, as witnessed in last week’s historic march in Ottawa with over 25,000 people in the streets, that much more work is needed to get us off of fossil fuels. That work begins with keeping the tar sands in the ground.

Greenpeace will continue to actively oppose carbon-enabling pipelines because of the dangers they bring with them and because they lock-us into high carbon infrastructure for decades. We will also continue to actively oppose the tar sands at the source while raising up solutions for how Alberta can speed and benefit from its renewable transition. We must not let up but instead need to double down so Alberta and Canada can get to where they need to be.

The government of Alberta’s announcement was a huge step forward but it's still a historic leap from where it needs to be. Our job is not only to help them implement it but to increase their ambition and finish the story we helped write. That story ends with a 100% renewable transition. It’s a story that is being written all over the world. We need to help write it in Alberta and Canada and that’s exactly what we are going to continue to do.