• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
Soaring Fertilizer Prices Could Deliver ‘Silver Lining’ For Emissions, But Farmers Struggle to Limit Use June 26, 2022
BREAKING: UN Nature Summit, the ‘Paris Conference for Biodiversity’, Moves to Montreal in December June 19, 2022
‘LET’S SUE BIG OIL’: Legal Team Launches Class Action Campaign for B.C. Municipalities June 17, 2022
‘It Could Have Been Any of Us’, Colleague Says, After Brazil Confirms Murders of Bruno Pereira, Dom Phillips June 17, 2022
Infrastructure Gap a ‘Life and Death’ Matter as Northern Canada Warms June 17, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Jurisdictions Canada

Thunberg to Attend Edmonton #ClimateStrike Today as Kenney’s ‘Bonesaw Argument’ Falls Flat

October 17, 2019
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: The Energy Mix staff

Greta Thunberg

I'm with Greta Thunberg/Facebook

3
SHARES
 

#FridaysforFuture founder Greta Thunberg is scheduled to join a climate strike at the Alberta legislature today at 11:00 AM local time, in an event organized by Climate Justice Edmonton, Indigenous Climate Action, Edmonton Youth for Climate, Beaver Hills Warriors, and other grassroot groups.

“Friday’s strike will be the latest in a series which have drawn thousands to the legislature grounds demanding government action on climate change,” the Edmonton Journal and Vancouver Sun report. “Those demands include a Canadian Green New Deal—a plan to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030 that protects workers and upholds Indigenous rights.”

Premier Jason Kenney initially welcomed Thunberg to the province, predicting she would find it a “beautiful place filled with friendly people.” He added that “we have to do better on the environmental front and we are doing better, and that’s the case I would make to Ms. Thunberg or anyone studying Alberta’s energy sector.”

But before long, “Kenney’s government began issuing smug missives: the climate oracle should make her next visit to oil-producing ‘dictatorships’ like Saudi Arabia,” National Observer writes. “Then she’d learn about ‘Alberta’s leading human rights and environmental standards’ and that our fossil fuels are much better than theirs.”

The “tortured logic seems to be that, because Alberta doesn’t carry out stoning or saw the limbs from pesky journalists, climate change doesn’t matter,” notes opinion writer Chris Hatch. But “‘at least we don’t dismember our critics’ [not yet—Ed.] wouldn’t be the first message you’d pick to win over the growing majority of the world increasingly panicked about tepid government response to looming catastrophe.”

He adds that “the bonesaw argument is certainly not going to sway the emerging generation of kids who are taking their lives into their own hands and have galvanized global protests unlike anything the planet has ever seen. Greta may have missed a lot of school, but she is unlikely to be moved by politicians from one of the planet’s most fortunate countries insisting we should be graded on a curve, against the worst petro-regimes in the world.”

The other question, adds veteran columnist Graham Thomson for iPolitics and the Toronto Star, is who stands to learn the most from Thunberg’s visit to Alberta.

“The moment the teenage environmental activist mentioned on social media last weekend she was coming to the province as part of her North American tour, heads began exploding in Alberta,” he writes. “According to various Twitter trolls, the 16-year-old Swede who has become an international symbol of young people’s angst over climate change is ‘ignorant’, a ‘puppet’ and should be ‘arrested for election interference’.” Another group called her a “European environmental agitator” and urged her to read up on “Canadian law regarding Defamatory Libel.”

“This is one of the bizarre tactics of disgruntled Albertans—suggesting that anyone who criticizes Alberta’s energy industry is somehow guilty of slander,” Thomson writes. “Another favourite tactic of disgruntled Albertans, even when the disgruntled is the government itself: suggest Alberta be given an environmental pass because it’s not a human rights-violating dictatorship.”

Thomson says those are arguments that Alberta has been trying out and losing for a decade.

“In the case of Thunberg, the government has decided that discretion is the better part of valour,” he writes. “It will simply hunker down with the shades drawn until the fuss is over,” with Environment Minister Jason Nixon saying he just won’t have time to meet Thunberg or attend the rally at the legislature.

But neither the government nor the province’s NDP opposition can expect any relief from Thunberg. “She is the voice of young people terrified at the prospect of runaway climate change created by greenhouse gas emissions,” he adds. “And that’s a problem for Alberta politicians. None of them can expect anything but a lecture from Thunberg, who a few weeks ago told world leaders at the United Nations, ‘You are failing us’.”

In the end, “Nixon said he hopes Thunberg will educate herself about Alberta,” Thomson notes. “But perhaps she is not the one who needs an education.”



in Canada, Climate Action / "Blockadia", Sub-National Governments, Tar Sands / Oil Sands

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

pxhere
Environmental Justice

Environmental Racism Bill Passes Second Reading in House of Commons

June 26, 2022
138
Graco/Facebook
Food Security

Soaring Fertilizer Prices Could Deliver ‘Silver Lining’ For Emissions, But Farmers Struggle to Limit Use

June 27, 2022
116
Konrad Summers/Kern West Oil Museum via Wikimedia Commons
Oil & Gas

Imperial Oil Backs Lithium Recovery Project in Alberta’s Leduc Oilfield

June 26, 2022
97

Comments 1

  1. ricardo2000 says:
    3 years ago

    Albertans believe that they should enjoy oil booms every decade and get pouty if it doesn’t happen. They get angry if anyone threatens their right to pollute.
    The facts are that renewables produce energy at less than 3 cents/kWh, which price will drop more, faster, as tech matures and economies of scale occur. At these rates no other source of energy is likely to get investment money. Anyone who has read Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy series knows this trend well. Indeed, Oilprice.com among others, has noted that fracking operations in Texas have not produced a profit yet, even though Texas is an extremely generous jurisdiction for energy companies.
    But here in Alberta, oil people like to pretend that it is the government that is hurting their pockets and bank accounts when it is the oil&gas industry that plans for ever-increasing layoffs. Albertans can call themselves CONservatives all they want, but the facts are that they can’t make any money without sucking government tit. If it weren’t for Notley the price of Alberta crude might still be $10/ barrel, and Exxon would still be crowing over the profits made in the US from this cheap crude. We should strengthen the market forces that will drive subsidized energy from the market.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

David/flickr

U.S. Supreme Court Expected to Gut Emission Controls as Climate Scientists Petition for Plan B

June 26, 2022
580
Graco/Facebook

Soaring Fertilizer Prices Could Deliver ‘Silver Lining’ For Emissions, But Farmers Struggle to Limit Use

June 27, 2022
116
Konrad Summers/Kern West Oil Museum via Wikimedia Commons

Imperial Oil Backs Lithium Recovery Project in Alberta’s Leduc Oilfield

June 26, 2022
97
pxhere

Environmental Racism Bill Passes Second Reading in House of Commons

June 26, 2022
138
stockvault

Animal Agriculture Could Reduce Future Pandemic Risk, UK Researchers Say

June 26, 2022
73
Gustavo Petro Urrego/flickr

Colombia’s President-Elect Has ‘Ambitious’ Plans to Halt Amazon Deforestation

June 26, 2022
67

Recent Posts

Adam E. Moreira/wikimedia commons

Suspend Transit Fares, Not Gas Tax, Climate Advocates Urge Biden

June 26, 2022
55
moerschy / Pixabay

Pandemic Drives Up Support for Climate Action, Pessimism About Elected Leaders

June 26, 2022
27
hellomike/flickr

No Public Input as Canada Finalizes Climate Plan for Airlines

June 27, 2022
37
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Southeast Asia/wikimedia commons

Japan, Korea Sell Vietnam on Gas Amid Crackdown on Climate Activists

June 26, 2022
22
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/Barrow_Offshore_Wind_Farm

Global Offshore Wind Pipeline Doubles to 846 Gigawatts

June 26, 2022
38
TAFE SA TONSLEY/Flickr

U.S. Renewables Industries Scramble to Reuse, Recycle Before Waste Volumes Skyrocket

June 26, 2022
63
Next Post
Aqua Mechanical/Flickr

Renewables Poised to Overtake Fossils Decades Faster Than Forecast

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}