Blame Canada

Blame Canada.

December 29, 2009–In response to the humiliation they endured at the hands of anti-corporate pranksters at the Copenhagen conference, officials from Environment Canada convinced an Internet Service Provider to block access to two websites the pranksters created to pull off their elaborate hoax.  Claiming that they wished to avoid creating ‘confusion’, and that these sites were ‘directly connected to a hoax,’ Canadian officials successfully urged German ISP Serverloft to block access to two sites: enviro-canada.ca and ec-gc.ca.  They went a step further, though, and asked the provider to make the effort to block similar websites from originating from their servers.

Naturally, even in the absence of warrants or legal justification, the ISP complied.  In their zeal to execute Environment Canada’s request, Serverloft also cut off access to 4,500 other, unrelated websites.

Certainly, it is understandable that the Canadian government was upset by what happened in Copenhagen.  Nobody likes to have their mistakes pointed out to them, especially on the world stage, in a way that makes them look like complete fools.

But demanding an ISP shut down web sites, in the process blocking access to 4,500 completely unrelated sites?  All because of what the Canadian Prime Minister himself termed a ‘childish prank?’

Maybe the ‘childish prank’ stirred up more anger among Canadian officials than they originally let on.  Two weeks prior to the web site shutdown, at the Copenhagen conference, The Yes Men, in collaboration with activists from Climate Debt Agents, used the previously mentioned domain names to perpetrate an elaborate hoax where by the Canadian government reversed its climate change policy, agreeing to voluntarily cut carbon emissions by 40% over 1990 levels by 2020, and 80% by 2050.  Press releases made their way to the press, more false statements were issued, and the story grew.  Canadian government officials, naturally, were confused.  As was the press.

Finally, the official Canadian response was sought.

The Canadians had to clarify, for the record, that they were not actually making any changes to their atrocious policies.

They were clearly not happy to have to clarify.  Despite having created a Rapid Response Team to deal with any emergencies related to climate change bad press, the Canadians still ended up the target of  biting satire.   They still ended up having to stand before the world and declare that they were not, in fact, changing anything–that they would continue to pollute and renege on their pledges for the foreseeable future.

Oh, Canada.

Canada, you see, signed on to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, voluntarily agreeing to reduce emissions.  At the time, the Canadians were enthusiastic supporters of the measure.  Environmentalists in the United States pointed to the North as a positive example, a beacon of progressive environmental thinking.  A few years later, a new conservative Prime Minister, and they call the whole thing off.  They are the only country on the planet to have done so.  As there are no mechanisms in the Kyoto Protocol for enforcement, they knew they could do this without any serious repercussions.

Not only did the Canadians cease to curb or reduce emissions, their emissions have risen 30% since 1990, compared to 16% in the United States.  Going back on the Kyoto Protocol is not the only instance of Canadians changing their minds about environmental policies.  They also dumped their pledge of five million dollars to assist developing countries with emissions reduction.  And their pledge to help the Inuit who inhabit Northern Canada.

Oh, and that dirty oil under the sand.  The Alberta Tar Sands, a vast reserve of bitumen, are either the world’s largest, or second largest oil reserves, depending on who’s doing the estimating.  Extracting oil from the mixture of clay, water, and bitumen that makes up the tar sand is a dirty process, producing significantly greater greenhouse gas than the production of conventional crude oil.  Oil production in the tar sands shoots an astonishing 40 million tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere every year, accounting for the bulk of Canada’s growth in greenhouse gas emissions.

The Alberta Tar Sands are also the world’s single largest industrial source of carbon emissions.

But Surely They Have Seen the Error of Their Ways?

Current Canadian government officials have begun to circulate private plans to not only continue production in Alberta, but to allow a 165% increase in emissions from the Alberta Tar Sands.  Documents brought to light during the Copenhagen conference showed Canadian Cabinet officials calling for softer emission reduction targets, and giving wide berth to Canada’s oil and gas industry.  For their conduct in Copenhagen, the Climate Action Network, an international organization of climate activists, awarded Canada the “Colossal Fossil” Award, a prize they earned for worst behavior at the conference.

Rather than address the very real challenges of their disastrous climate change policy, the Canadian government instead chose to lash out at the perpetrators of an embarrassing hoax.  Aside from shutting down the websites, the Canadian government has issued threats for unspecified legal actions.

“We are sorry to see that the Canadian government will not ‘take certain actions’ that could help stave off catastrophic climate change,” said Mike Bonanno of The Yes Men, “and we are sorry to see that they don’t care so much for free speech.”

Indeed.

The hijinks at the Copenhagen conference and the Canadian response can be cause for alarm, to be sure, but they are also cause for celebration.  Yes, the Canadians have not yet changed any of their policies, and they shut down 4,502 websites.  The emissions standards will not be changed.  The Tar Sands continue polluting prodigiously.  Angry Canadian officials continue issuing threats and denials.  Nothing changed at all, some might say.

But there is a greater lesson to be learned from the great Blame Game that took place in late December: a few committed activists, with just their imaginations, rented rooms, and a sense of humor, managed to draw the attention of the entire world, shining the spolight  on Canada’s shame, forcing the truth into the open.