Think before you LEAP
The LEAP Manifesto recently published by left-wing associates of the NDP party in Canada has been described as the brainchild of Naomi Klein and her hubby Avi Lewis. The subtitle of the manifesto “A Call for a Canada Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another” is reminiscent of Pope Francis’ recent encyclical “Laudato Si.”
Stationary “e-bike” for electric power generation
The LEAP Manifesto
Both Klein and Lewis have been described as the masterminds of the manifesto. Both have been radical “green” activists and at least Klein is a member of the 350.org, a brainchild of David Suzuki (who is also among the Initiating Signatories). Altogether they have been hell-bent on “decarbonizing” Canada for quite some time. So far, they and others have succeeded in the NDP party recently voting for a leadership review, effectively ousting Thomas Mulcair.
Of course, Klein and friends are in cahoots with many other like-minded individuals and organisations that claim that “it is feasible for Canada to get 100{154653b9ea5f83bbbf00f55de12e21cba2da5b4b158a426ee0e27ae0c1b44117} of its electricity from renewable resources within two decades.” And, if you are unsure as to what they mean by that read on in the manifesto:
“That applies equally to oil and gas pipelines; fracking in New Brunswick, Quebec and British Columbia; increased tanker traffic off our coasts; and to Canadian-owned mining projects the world over.”
In other words, these people want us to forget centuries of development to fulfill their crazy “clean energy” dreams.
Dream on Baby!
The idea that Canada even could become such an utopian (energy-starved) “paradise” is entirely misguided. Are Naomi, Avi, and David going to spend weeks every fall in the bush to collect and harvest firewood to heat their homes in winter? Not likely. Will they be traveling across the continent by rickshaw or overseas by rowboat? Not likely. Will they want to get “clean” electricity when they need it, or only when the sun shines or the wind blows? Not likely. Or will they use the new “pedal-power” electricity-generating bicycle-like devices studied by the German environment ministry. Not likely either.
There are three major problems with all such “green and clean” ideas.
The first wrong idea is that “carbon” consumption has any significant influence on the world’s climate. It does not.
The second wrong idea is that windmills or solar power generation systems are better for the environment. They are not.
The third wrong idea – even if the first two ideas were correct – is that windmills and solar systems could replace a significant portion or even all of the world’s energy needs.
That latter idea is founded on a total lack of understanding the orders of magnitude and required continuity of sufficient energy, electricity and fuel. You can see that from a few pertinent numbers (rounded) in the table nearby:
Global Scale
Even if carbon dioxide had any significant effect on the climate and Canada could (and would) eliminate all coal and hydrocarbon consumption (including that for electric power generation) its global effect would be next to nil. With only 1/200 of the world population, Canada couldn’t change the global energy use even if it wanted to.
Clearly, Klein et al.’s fantasies about “green and clean” are absurd. Even for areas that are blessed with much more sunshine throughout the year, for example southern California or Spain, several large (and heavily subsidized) solar power plants are just about to go belly up. Britain, Poland, and Germany have announced to stop the hitherto unbridled expansion of wind power system subsidies and expect to burn more coal, natural gas or use nuclear power plants for their electricity needs.
Moreover, other countries are expanding fossil fuel and other “non-renewable” power generation at a rapid rate. For example, China and India are building new coal and such “carbon” (coal, oil, or gas) power plants at breakneck speed, i.e. about one new plant per week. I surmise that it’s time to:
Think before you LEAP!
Read more at canadafreepress.com
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