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Climate Change Global Security, held in Toronto in June 1988. We have already seen clear signs of this in the recent Arab Spring, which was ignited in a large part by increasing food prices in the region. A 2007 U.S. study on global security predicted that, in order to keep out millions of climate refugees fleeing hunger, drought and conflict, the United States and other rich nations would likely decide to “build defensive fortresses
the Rio+20 conferences, the U. S. and Canada are behaving as if 200 years of over-emissions never happened. Canada’s experience of climate change is quite mild so far, including some melting of sea ice in the Arctic, which is incidentally creating a new fishing industry, and some forest fires. It’s nothing like the U.S. experience, with its series of massive tornados and major droughts, and nothing like what many de-
Canada’s experience of climate change is quite mild so far, including some melting of sea ice in the Arctic, which is incidentally creating a new fishing industry, and some forest fires. around their countries.” We are already seeing this in Europe, where thousands of Africans are risking their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean in leaky boats, and, similarly, where refugees from Central America are trying to reach the United States. But now, after the failures of Copenhagen and more recently at Durban and
veloping countries are facing in the tropical regions with storms, floods, droughts and other weather-related disasters. So why is there so little interest among the public in climate change and the threat of global warming? For Canadians, it is the gradual nature of the threat and the failure to see 10 or 20 years ahead. Paul Krugman, economics
advisor to President Obama, says it is like “boiling the frog.” If you drop a frog into a pot of hot water it will jump straight out. But if you put a frog in a pan of cold water and slowly heat the pan, the frog does not notice and slowly heats up until it dies. In a 2009 report to the U.K. government, Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank, warned that global warming is “the greatest market failure the world has seen and the seriousness of the risks from inaction or delayed action is now overwhelming.” Here in Canada, with our oil sands obsession, it is highly unlikely that our government will heed this message anytime soon. Dr. Bernard Fleet is with Ryerson University, Faculty of Environmental Applied Science & Management. E-mail: Fleetec@gmail.com. This article is based on a lecture as part of a graduate course on Our Energy Future: Climate Change and the Transition to the Low Carbon Economy. The full course materials are accessible at www.fleetec.com/ryerson
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