Where Are We Supposed to Move Now?

Canada plans cuts to climate programs and backs further away from Kyoto

Do you hear that? The mild harrumphing? That's the sound of disgruntled Canadian enviros. They're unhappy with the new Conservative government's reported plans to slash funding for programs to fight climate change, despite a recent federal review that found most such programs to be cost-effective. On Wednesday, top environmental leaders in the country called on opposition parties to defeat the Conservatives if they back out of trying to meet emissions limits under the Kyoto Protocol. The government has indicated that it will not pull out of Kyoto entirely, but will abandon efforts to comply with emissions targets in favor of its own "made-in-Canada" greenhouse-gas reduction plan. Also yesterday, a federal scientist who was to give a talk about his new novel -- Hotter Than Hell, a futuristic depiction of Canada and the U.S. at war over water in a world made hot by climate change -- was warned by the environment minister's office not to speak. Wouldn't be polite, they said.