With Arctic ice going fast, Green Party calls on Senate to pass Kyoto bill

With every day that passes, the need for action becomes more desperate. OTTAWA – Amid reports that polar ice is disappearing three times faster than projections and with the prospect of an ice-free Arctic within two decades, the Green Party is calling on the Senate to pass legislation forcing the government to meet Canada’s greenhouse gas reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. “With every day that passes and every new alarming scientific study, the need for action becomes more desperate,” said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. “The Senate must now put an end to all the wrangling over the so-called Clean Air Act, the turn-the-corner plan, the low-intensity plan and various other government smokescreens designed to hide the absence of real action on the climate crisis. “The Green Party calls on the Senate to expedite the passage of Bill C-288, requiring the government to comply with its legally binding Kyoto targets. The House of Commons has led the way and the senior chamber should now grasp the opportunity to rehabilitate Canada’s reputation as a global environmental leader,” she said. Bill C-288 is currently being considered by the Senate environment committee, which will decide next week whether to hold further hearings or allow it to move forward to a vote by the full Senate. Ms. May said that the latest report on the parlous state of the Arctic ice cap reinforces the need for urgent and dramatic reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases responsible for global warming. A new study published today compared computer climate models with observations by satellites, aircraft and ships and found that Arctic ice is actually melting much faster than predicted by the simulations used in the forecasts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The shrinking summertime ice is about 30 years ahead of the IPCC projections, which recently suggested that Arctic ice would not be completely melted before 2050. “It is bad enough that the Arctic ice is receding,” said Ms. May. “But if the ice cap disappears completely, the worldwide climate consequences will be devastating.”