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Zero Carbon

With Chris Hatch
Photo of the author
March 1st 2024
Feature story

Hope, fear or farce?

You hear a lot of debate among climate advocates about the roles of fear and hope. But sometimes it just feels like we’ve been transported into the theatre of the absurd.

In a province where farmers, ranchers and other landowners cannot refuse oil and gas drilling, the Alberta government has announced sweeping restrictions on renewable energy. After freezing approvals in the booming wind and solar sector last year, Premier Danielle Smith announced the moratorium will be replaced with a morass of rules, yet to be clearly defined.

The fossil fuel industry will remain free to mine the oilsands and drill near communities and parks. But wind and solar will be restricted. Drill rigs and pumpjacks pepper fields and landscapes but solar panels and wind power must not impinge farmland or “viewscapes.” The liability costs for cleaning up oil and gas operations mount into baffling billions while reclamation bonds will be imposed on renewables.

Maps of the no-go zones will be produced at some point in the future, says the provincial government. Based on the statements at the premier’s press conference, the Pembina Institute and CPAWS calculate that 76 per cent of the province would be ruled out-of-bounds, including all the best wind and all but a smidgen of the best solar.

That level of restrictiveness is so absurd, it seems likely to be softened. But the degree of double standard has to be mapped to be grasped. Here’s the map of oil and gas operations.

It’s an incredible “double standard,” but that phrase seems far too tactful in the theatre of the absurd. Tragicomedy? Farce?

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, says: “Danielle Smith’s temporary moratorium on renewable energy development is becoming a permanent attack on our economic future.” Other earnest advocates describe the clampdown on renewable power as an “uncertainty bomb,” a “backdoor ban” or a “soft moratorium.”

Only a “soft moratorium”? Tucker Carlson and Co. must be disappointed. It was only one month ago that Smith joined Carlson and Jordan Peterson’s events in Alberta. The premier made energy the focus of her sit-down with Carlson, lambasting the feds for policies on climate and clean energy.

Her host might have expected a more aggressive defence of the fossil quo when it came time to reveal the rules against wussy, low-carb energy. A more Trumpian one.

Donald Trump is where we hear the undisguised feelings animating the populist backlash against clean energy and climate action. None of Smith’s masquerade about carbon-neutrality by 2050. No pretence about wind and solar having “a role to play.”

If you’re a Trump follower, you’ve heard from him directly that wind farms cause cancer (and hammer house prices down 75 per cent in value). And the offshore projects are “causing whales to die in numbers never seen before… The windmills are driving them crazy. They are driving the whales, I think, a little batty,” says Trump.

You probably know the former U.S. president described climate change as “nonexistent” and a “hoax” invented by China. In office, he rolled back over 100 major climate and environmental protections and gutted the staff in charge. He’s claimed that energy-efficient buildings can’t have windows, or only “tiny little windows so you can’t see out,” and that putting solar panels on a roof means no air-conditioning for the elderly.

You’ve probably heard about the “dictator for a day” comments, the vows for vengeance, the drumbeat of stolen election claims and his sinister depiction of immigrants “poisoning the blood of the country.”

But if you haven’t been watching his campaign speeches lately, you’d be shocked to hear how much time he devotes to boosting oil and gas while shit-talking solar, wind and electric vehicles.

“Drill, baby, drill” is often one of Trump’s first lines at a podium and that’s been his answer to the usual questions about what he’ll do on Day 1 if he gets re-elected. He’d also pull out of the Paris Agreement (again).

Those are some of his old standards. But he’s got new material, and new twists on climate change being a hoax. Trump’s more recent line is that the climate crisis is a “green new hoax” pushed by “fake climate alarmists that don’t have a clue” and would destroy and bankrupt the nation with “climate mandates.”

He goes off on long, rambling diatribes about water conservation and efficiency rules. You now have to flush toilets five times because of liberals, he claims. And when you shower, no water comes out, he complained to Fox News' Laura Ingraham this month.

One of Trump’s frequent targets is the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which allocates hundreds of billions to clean energy projects through tax credits and direct investments. He’s repeatedly called for axing the clean energy incentives.

The push towards electrification and cleaning the grid is a “transition to hell,” says Trump. “You’re going to lose your beautiful way of life,” he warned workers in Michigan, describing the IRA as a “government assassination of our jobs and your industry. A hit job… Biden’s forced transition is a transition to hell.”

It may seem like a dizzying spin through a hall of mirrors. But Trump’s instincts can be piercing. While climate and health groups toil away trying to convince the public that electrification is the backbone of safer energy, Trump is well onto the counterattack. “They’re going electric-crazy,” he warns crowds.

And while Trump’s speeches might sound absurd, there are resonant themes we can’t ignore. A blend of petro-masculinity and that variant on freedom that refuses to account for harm to others. Those attitudes might not be getting the full-Trump treatment in Canada, but they are certainly getting political oxygen from Conservative leaders.

One topic rises above the sneering at solar and loathing of wind farms and that’s Trump’s disgust for electric vehicles. It’s a subject he returns to over and again. Among other howlers, he’s claimed EVs can only run for 15 minutes and lambasted the U.S. Army for purportedly planning electric tanks. “We will blast the shit out of everybody, but at least we will go in with environmentally nice equipment. Can you believe it?” he asks. (For the record: you shouldn’t.)

But where we’ve hit peak absurdity (so far) is about boats, of all things. And that’s where we finally discovered something Trump hates more than electrification — sharks.

Rallying his base before the Iowa caucuses, Trump ripped into electric boats. The batteries are so heavy, they sink, he claimed. (This would be news to passengers on the electric ferries of Northern Europe or the more modest ones beginning to appear in North America. But let’s not get hung up on fact checking and get back to Iowa.)

"Let's say your boat goes down, and I'm sitting on top of this big, powerful battery. And the boat's going down. Do I get electrocuted?"

We should probably pause a moment to remember we are listening to the once and hopeful president of the United States. By this time next year, the guy could be in charge of the world’s biggest economy and largest producer of fossil fuels.

"If I'm sitting down, and that boat's going down, and I'm on top of a battery, and the water starts flooding in, I'm getting concerned," Trump told the crowd. "But then I look 10 yards to my left, and there's a shark over there. So I have a choice of electrocution or shark. You know what I'm gonna take? Electrocution. I will take electrocution every single time."

The roundup

If you’ve got an appetite for more absurdity, you can get details on the “uncertainty bomb” dropped on Alberta’s clean energy future from John Woodside. And the specifics about Danielle Smith’s wind and solar double standard from Max Fawcett.

Saskatchewan confirms it will break federal carbon price law

Saskatchewan is provoking a showdown with the feds over carbon pricing, declaring it will not abide by the law upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada. The provincial government has directed SaskEnergy to stop collecting the carbon tax and confirmed it will not pay the money it owes Ottawa.

“This is an extraordinary moment in Canadian democracy that a government, a provincial government, would choose to break a constitutional federal law,” said political science professor Kathryn Harrison.

I don’t have the heart to load you up with news about climate impacts on top of all the absurdities. So, here’s a roundup looking at some of the people pushing for progress this week.

Pension funds must pick up the pace

“We're seeing progress, but it's not nearly on the scope and scale of what's required to align with climate safety,” said Adam Scott, director of Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health. The organization grades Canada’s 11 largest pension funds on their climate policies each year.

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec was the top-rated Canadian pension fund in Shift Action’s annual report with a B+. But Canada’s largest pension fund — the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) — “is holding somewhere between $21 [billion] and $63 billion in fossil fuel assets,” said Scott.

Teachers demand pension divestment

Members of the BC Teachers’ Federation rallied outside the organization’s office in Vancouver this week, calling for a “fossil-free and weapons-free portfolio.

“We are charged with the most important task, caring for children, so we can’t be invested in their destruction,” one of the protesting teachers told CityNews

EVs could ease millions of childhood asthma attacks

The American Lung Association is using its voice to push for electrification, highlighting the health impacts of fossil-fuelled vehicles. The association finds that:

“Electrifying cars and trucks would make a staggering difference in millions of lives, particularly those of young people growing up near freeways and other sources of air pollution,” reports Grist.

Faith in heat pumps

I was surprised to learn that “faith communities are the second-largest property holders in Canada, surpassed only by the federal government.” Zack Metcalfe reports on United Churches across Canada cutting carbon with thoughtful renovations.

In one of the projects funded by Faithful Footprints, Grace United in Dartmouth installed heat pumps. Not only are they working well, the church organ sounds better in the conditioned air. “It’s a benefit we weren’t expecting,” says the chair of the board.

Pushing Ottawa to ban fossil ads

A coalition of 15 advocacy groups is calling on Ottawa city council to ban fossil fuel sponsorships in city facilities and advertising. They have the support of at least one councillor.

"If we're going to meet those targets that we've set as a city, then we need to make sure we're doing all we can. It doesn't make sense to be advertising the very things that we say need to be phased out," Coun. Shawn Menard told CBC News.

Cities making the wheels turn for cyclists

Hamilton and Toronto are both investing heavily in bike infrastructure, reports Abdul Matin Sarfraz.

“Hamilton has plans to spend $60 million to build 119 kilometres of new bike lanes by 2028. More than half of the proposed bike lanes will be segregated from car traffic, prioritizing safety for cyclists.

“The City of Toronto aims to complete approximately 100 kilometres of new bikeways, along with upgrades to existing routes by the end of 2024. Last year alone, 18 kilometres of new lanes were added in Toronto.”

Doubling public transit

Governments should be setting goals to boost public transit as well as EVs, says Nate Wallace, program manager at Environmental Defence. His organization partnered with Équiterre to lay out how Canada can double public transit ridership by 2035, reducing GHGs by 65 million tons between 2024 and 2035.

The study “comes as the federal government continues to work on its Permanent Public Transit Fund, which will divvy out $3 billion each year starting in 2026,” reports Cloe Logan.

The Bridge

If you missed last week’s Zero Carbon newsletter, you can listen to Peter Mansbridge’s podcast where we discuss zombie fires and smouldering desire. Mansbridge invited me on to talk about the surprising level of desire for action on climate, largely dormant because most of us think we’re alone in our anxiety.

We also talk about zombie fires overwintering since last year’s scorching summer and the prospects for fire seasons to come. Look for The Bridge wherever you get your podcasts.