People Must Change to Arrest Global Warming : Canadian PM.

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FROM : TORONTO STAR.

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People must change, PM tells climate conference

Dec. 7, 2005. 04:51 PM

CANADIAN PRESS

 

MONTREAL — Prime Minister Paul Martin says human behaviour is responsible for

climate change and the world must change its ways.

" The defining cause of climate change is human activity — primarily how we

produce and use energy, " Martin told delegates from about 175 countries at a UN

climate change summit.

" The simple fact of the matter is that our economies — indeed our societies —

cannot sustain our patterns of consumption. "

Martin challenged world leaders to make the Montreal event a historic moment

where a consensus is reached on global warming.

Meantime, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said a Conservative government

would cut the tax rate of small businesses to 11 per cent from 12 per cent over

five years. And NDP Leader Jack Layton said he now backs the Clarity Act, which

sets out rules for future votes on Quebec independence. This is a reversal for

the NDP leader, who annoyed his own caucus in last year's election campaign when

he said he would ditch the law if the opportunity arose

At the climate conference, Martin conceded that Canada's record on fighting

climate change is far from perfect.

" I need only look at my own country, " he said. " We are an energy-producing,

energy-consuming nation. Our record on combating climate change was far from

perfect in the 1990s. But now we are investing billions in progressive,

effective initiatives as we work towards our Kyoto commitments.

" If we fail to meet the challenge of climate change, it will be not a failure of

nations. It will be a failure of people — of me, of you, a failure of character

for all who today are confronted with the clear cost of our indulgence and who

refuse to submit to sacrifice and new ways. "

Critics say that despite Martin's tough talk, the U.S. outpaces Canada in

reducing greenhouse-gas emissions even though it not signed the Kyoto accord.

 

Article Truncated....

 

 

 

We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war

than we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.

-- General Omar Bradley

 

 

 

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