Alberta: floods, oil and politics

Last week Alberta got a first-hand taste of increasing climate weirdness. There is some irony here: the economy of the province, and increasingly of the country, is driven by putting  more carbon into the atmosphere.

Honesty moment: even though my own life is quite green, I admit that I depend on government pensions. My hands are not as clean as I would like them to be.

The city of Calgary coped magnificently. Natural disasters  seem to bring out the best in people. Community spirit abounds, volunteers are plentiful, and so on. For more on this phenomenon, see Rebecca Solnit's "A Paradise built in hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster."

The government piped in with lavish promises and "never mind the deficit". 

Now, I am all in favour of giving people a hand up after a natural disaster. But I can't help thinking of other people who have been made homeless in Alberta. Where is the compensation when the loss is caused not by nature, but by industry?
http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/03/02/Tar-Sand-Pollution-Refugees/

If we were a rational species.......

If we were a rational species, which is obviously not the case, one issue would dominate our airwaves: Climate change, and how to mitigate its effect on a growing world population.
Insert sound track of Tiny Tim singing "The ice caps are melting". It is no longer a joke. 

I have just stumbled upon a radio station devoted entirely to the topic. The hour-long in depth interviews are perfect for accompanying kitchen work. I can't seem to turn it off. 

I am no fan of Blaise Pascal and his earth-denying form of Christianity. But he said some wise things, such as this: "If you want to convince people a thing is true, you must first make them wish it were true." No wonder it is so hard to get the message of climate change out. I wonder how I would react to this if I were the mother of young children, instead of safely at the end of my seventh decade? 

Being a regular human being rather than an eco saint I shall continue to muddle through while the muddling is good. I shall combine a measure of 'prepping' with a measure of applying the Edgar principle: If these are the last of the good old days, we should enjoy them as much as possible!

For those with ears that can hear, the programs can be accessed here: http://ecoshock.info