There is no question that the honeymoon is over now. Mr Nice Guy, the photo op Prime Minister who thrills folks wherever he goes, exposed his other side in the House last week. No more Mr Nice Guy. Get your carbon tax or cap & trade in place or I’ll do it for you. And just like Stephen said, no more money for Health! And mortgages – get that 20% down payment! The next thing you know he’ll be pulling our troops out of the ISIS conflict and getting them ready to invade Saskatchewan.
That was part of the after Thanksgiving dinner conversation. There was the usual Blue Jay chatter from the jock and jockettes in the company, dampened a little by our beer-can throwing fan. The interest in the baseball-playing Blue Jays was easily surpassed by the photos of the real blue jays that were running on the TV screen as filler for the breaks in conversation. But then Grandma put a spoiler on that as she reminded us that the Blue Jay is also a marauder of birds’ nests in the spring.
Having taken care of our national news, the conversation drifted south, across the border where hurricane Matthew was dumping rain on the States. The bad news of more deaths in Haiti was disturbing and we all realized how fortunate we were to be out of the paths of hurricanes and tornados. Then someone mentioned the upcoming US election. A vote was made not to watch the debate but see instead a slide show of sights in Spain. It turns out that was the right decision.
Good Grief! sums up American politics. And these people call themselves world leaders?
Meanwhile Russia’s Mr. Putin has taken the Crimea, part of the Ukraine, and is now setting up military bases (airfields and now a naval base) in Syria. I can see a scenario where Putin helps Assad quell the uprising and then props up a puppet government in Syria. Once he controls Syria – check a map – he’ll hold the Middle East in his grip. All this happened while the strongest military in the world stood on the sidelines wringing their hands in diplomatic angst. Well, somebody was supplying arms to all those Arab Spring events but we won’t go there.
It appears now that Hillary will mop the floor with The Donald. However I suspect some disenchanted Democrats will help fill Congress with Republicans, thus handicapping the Democratic President again. It is shaping up like another four years of US dithering on the world stage. The only hope is that they will get some left-leaning Supreme Court justices out of Clinton’s short stay at 1600 Pennsylvania.
The atmosphere cooled with draughts of herbal tea and the conversation turned to regional issues. Minutes were wasted talking about Hydro and HealthCare as it appears the Ontario government can or will do little about either. The upcoming carbon tax turned out to be the Hot Stove topic of the evening. For a planet crowded with carbon-based critters we certainly seem to be making a mess. That is, if you believe that all the CO2 in the atmosphere is causing an alarming bump in the cycle of heating and cooling that old mother earth is experiencing.
Applying a tax on us for using carbon-based fuels and foods feels like a tax on living. It seems impossible to escape the use of carbon either as fuel or ingredients. We might eventually replace the infernal combustion engine but all those plastic and metal parts need a lot of energy to replace. Yes, we can use and consume less but our numbers are growing so quickly that there is no endgame in sight.
All the taxing and shuffling of carbon credits is simply not going to make a whole lot of difference. We could try carbon shaming. We use social media to shame people for their actions like throwing beer cans at games, we un-like people or make rude comments, some even use ‘locker room’ language to disparage others. Why not shame the companies that pollute our world with CO2? Stick a big unhappy face on the company that makes gas guzzlers AND on the people driving them. Give them bad press at every opportunity. People who fly instead of using the internet to hold business discussion should get the un-smiley on their luggage and brief cases.
Companies that over-package and use that impenetrable bubble plastic should get the thumbs down symbol. People who still don’t have reusable shopping bags and need the plastic ones should be shamed at the checkout by having a flashing light over their heads indicating a Polluter! Polluter! Smokers already give off smoke signals that tell the world they are polluting the air we breathe so leave them alone already.
You can think of other ways of carbon shaming. Just get the word out there before Justin and Wynne tax us into carbon poverty. Anyone who is in so many selfies has to be influenced by social media.
However, if you are a little shy about sticking a ‘carbon shame’ sticker on that big SUV next door you can always stick one on your forehead. Because we are all to blame for this mess we are in.
