In today's column (Let's clear the air here), Goldstein lays out his stance on global warming and climate change, which I find to be moderate, non-partisan and entirely reasonable:
For more than a year now, having done a fair bit of research about the issue on my own, I've been writing critically about global warming. During that time, I have stated the following:
That I accept the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the Earth is warming unnaturally and that it is "very likely" human activity is the cause.
That, regardless of global warming, it's important to conserve energy and to burn fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas) as cleanly and efficiently as possible, not just for environmental reasons, but for geo-political ones. The less we have to rely on Mideast oil, the greater our security will be.
I've said Canada, as a resource-rich country, should be a leader in the responsible use of fossil fuels and government subsidies to the oil industry -- unnecessary when oil costs more than $100 a barrel -- should be re-invested into Canadian research and development of new sources of renewable energy and clean technologies.
I've said if Canada imposes a carbon tax, presuming a majority of Canadians favour this, it must be done in concert with the U.S. and our other major trading partners, so as not to damage our economy.
I've argued it must be truly revenue neutral, providing already overtaxed Canadians with realistic ways of moving toward a carbon economy...
Then he goes on to explain why he doesn't support the Kyoto protocol which, as he agrees with Harper, really is a 'socialist, money-sucking scheme'. Worse, it is not realistically designed to lower man-made GHG emissions due to the exclusion of certain countries such as China and India, and the fact that the U.S. has not ratified the treaty "dating back to the Bill Clinton/Al Gore administration".
Also:
...Climate hysterics, led by environmental radicals and opportunistic politicians, who screech that every time there's an extreme, or even unusual weather event it's "proof" of man-made global warming, don't know what they're talking about. They constantly confuse "weather" and "climate."
They don't understand the difference between man-made global warming and the Earth's natural greenhouse effect, which keeps us all from freezing...
...Kyoto isn't an environmental plan. It's a plan to transfer wealth from the First World to the Third and damage the American economy in particular...
As if we need that right now! As we can already see, a worsening U.S. economic situation can seriously impact our economy - especially in Ontario.
Please read the whole article. It's a no-nonsense approach to a very highly-charged, political argument. Yet the emails still pour in calling him names for this moderate stance.
Maybe that's because when they've run out of facts, then name-calling is the only thing left to fall back on.
Or is it?
They could always try locking him up.
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