On tar sands and car crashes

I saw an article from Mining Weekly quoting Michael Ignatieff. He said the tar sands have to clean up and be more sustainable. I don't want to suggest anything personal about the man, but isn't that an oxymoron?

How can producing the substance that fuels climate change be sustainable? I thought he was an educated and intelligent man, not just another jingo-spouting politician talking meaninglessly. I seem to be wrong about so many things.

The pollution produced by the tar sands mines and upgraders is horrible and should be cleaned, but doing it while continuing to add new mines makes about as much sense as washing down a vehicle just before it causes a six car pile up.

The climate scientists have done the calculating. The atmosphere can't absorb the growing greenhouse gas emissions we are already producing. If we keep going there will be catastrophic changes in the climate. We have had more than 20 years' warning already. We could have adopted a gradual, bit-by-bit approach to reducing emissions, slowly moving away from fossil fuels. We didn't. Instead government and industry teamed up to give us another approach: drive as fast as we can directly at a brick wall and slam on the brakes hoping to stop just in time to avert disaster.

Sorry, Mr. Ignatieff. Your position is ten years out of date and out of touch with reality. We are up against the wall and it's time to slam on the brakes. Your party was on the right track only a few years ago, but I think you have wandered into the oncoming lane. No wonder you have a 14% approval rating.

We need political leaders prepared to accept that we can’t continue down this fossil fuel road. The billions going into expanding the tar sands must be redirected to reduce emissions as fast as possible. No other approach is “sustainable."