Food for thought

Canada finally has some allies. No longer is its government alone in trying to delay, diminish, or destroy (Canada's three D's rather than the three R's of environmental responsibility) every environmental conference and piece of legislation to deal with the problem. Now  Australia and Japan have joined in. Last week, Japan, the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases announced it was slashing plans to reduce those gases from 25% to 3.8% and since shuttering its nuclear stations will be expected to rely much more on fossil fuels and Australia's prime minister, Tony Abbott, received a congratulatory telegram from our prime minister for gutting the country's carbon tax. Also, reported in The New York Times (Nov 10) Peru's forests are being gobbled up at an unprecedented rate even though preservation of the Amazon basin is considered a key in combating global warming and the Peruvian government has passed laws to protect its forests. As much as eighty per cent of wood exported from the country is done so illegally. In Canada, our Prime Minister Harper has said, "In this party (Conservative), we will not accept that environmental protection must stop economic development." That's political speak for doing nothing. Does anyone really think that a capitalist system will ever get serious about spending money on cleaning anything up? John Ayers.