mike watkins dot ca : Harper 2020: I'm Sorry

Harper 2020: I'm Sorry

Greenpeace has put some bitingly smart advertising up in the Copenhagen airport.

[Canada] is now to climate what Japan is to whaling George Monbiot

The series (hat tip: Twitter retweet from LibArtsAndMinds) features apologetic world leaders 11 years from now. Recognize this fellow?

http://mikewatkins.ca/2009/12/04/harper-2020-im-sorry/file/34383f872271/cop09-harper-sorry-advert.jpg

Click on image to see other country leaders in 2020...

In other pre-Copenhagen news this week, noted climate change activist George Monbiot in a widely read article in The Guardian labelled Canada an embarrassment. While I am deeply proud of our country, I am not blind to its failures and thus I must agree with Mr. Monbiot.

Jim Prentice, the third Conservative government environment minister in as many years, today put forward a weak retort in that same paper.

Greenpeace Canada is calling on Canadians to sign it's Kyoto-Plus petition, and is of course in high gear in the days leading up to Copenhagen. May the force be with you.

Disclaimer: I like Jim Prentice and find him to be one of the truly honourable people in politics. In this case I do not at all agree with what he is saying, but as a person of principle he is at least asserting his position and plans in a bluntly unequivocal manner. That said, if it were in my power to do so I would see his government defeated for the position they are taking on climate change. The Conservative Party, as well as the co-founding Canadian Alliance Party (and it's forerunner the Reform Party) have either been denying climate change is an issue, or attempting to block any action on the issue, since, well, forever. Unfortunately, the Liberal record on the matter is equally abysmal. Those I'm sad to say are the unvarnished non-partisan facts.

[Thumbnail]cop09-harper-sorry-advert.jpg (18.5 KB, image/jpeg)
Billboard advertisement in Copenhagen airport, one of a series of images dotting the public areas featuring 2009 world leaders aged another 11 years.