The culture shock that shocks me

After publicly talking about it since at least the 2006 federal election, Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and Canada's current prime minister, who once called the Kyoto Protocol "a socialist scheme" designed to suck money out of rich countries, this week announced that Canada is abandoning the greenhouse gas emission cuts set in the Kyoto Protocol, and "vigorously campaigning for an international deal that rejects the central foundation of the Kyoto Protocol."

While Harper can, of course, say that, Canada has, as a matter of fact, ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which came into force in February 2005, on December 17, 2002 and the decision is legally binding, requiring Canada to reduce emissions to 6% below 1990 levels during the 2008-2012 commitment period.

But so far Canada has done nothing to reduce its emissions, and by 2004, Canada's CO₂ emissions had risen, instead of declining, to 27% above 1990 levels (which compares unfavorably to even the United States' emission levels - the US pushed a 16% increase in its emissions during the same time).

Here not just the politicians currently in the government (the previous Liberal government talked more positively about Kyoto than the Conservatists, but didn't actually do much, either), but also some otherwise sensible journalists, ordinary people and NGOs argue that Canada has got special conditions like no other country that joined Kyoto: Canada's economy is strongly dependent on the US and Canada's own natural gas and oil industry in Alberta, the climate is cold, the country is huge and the people need cars.

Personally, I am sure that Kyoto is not the ultimate, best of the best solution to prevent global warming. And different countries have different circumstances, true. But as long as I see way too many Canadians, not just the current government but the ordinary people of this country, not even try to do anything real to change their lifestyles in the slightest ways, I will wipe my ass with the excuses about the "special conditions" here. While putting hard caps on the emissions that the main industries cause here may be a difficult task in this country, why do I see no new funding going to Canada's poorly developed, crumbling public transportation network, no bike lanes, severe cuts to the funding of Environment Canada and no widespread support for the Green Party or other political parties supporting Kyoto, even if in 2002 polls showed 70% support among Canadians for Kyoto?

The Toronto Transit Commission, TTC, is battling against a multi-million dollar budget deficit this year, and according to Gary Webster, the general manager of TTC, and reports, next year TTC faces another $50-$60 million deficit again, and so more service cuts are expected as well as yet another increase to the already way-too-high ticket prices. And by 2010, TTC is expected to be another $50 million short again. If Canada really can say it's got a developed, highly educated society that wants to do at least something to reduce its emissions, then why is the public transportation system of the biggest city in the country left with totally inadequate funding?

Sure, it's true - we don't yet have all the technology to create sufficient amounts of energy in alternative ways without using any fossil fuel, but that certainly doesn't mean there's nothing that can be done about our emissions now, that we can just sit down now, give up, and keep living the way we do. There's a whole hell of a lot that can be done with today's technology, and it doesn't take only the government's actions (although that is an important part of the solution) to do things better - individuals can help, too. If this country and its people don't even try to do something with today's technology, instead of coming up with excuses and explanations, then they don't get a right to complain, to bail out, to veto and whine.

Here's a list of some of the things that could be fixed now, without waiting for utopian technology or other out-of-this-world solutions:
-Stop idleing your cars! Ordinary people, cops, TTC bus drivers - all of them I see idleing their cars, trucks and buses for 10-20 times here, when there's absolutely no need nor justification for it. In Finland, you're allowed to idle your car for max 2 minutes at a time, and that is to prevent pollution, as the emission levels of a car at idle speed are severely higher than the emission levels of a moving car.
-Just this week, I was reading about how the city of Helsinki is building a free WLAN network to cover all of the city's subway trains and stations, putting an extra €3 million EUR a year in building more bike lanes, and equipping all public transit buses in metro Helsinki with GPS devices to enhance scheduling and to be able to offer real time information to the customers of the city's public transportation system. At the same time, TTC operates worn-out infrastructure and old school ticketing systems, much higher prices and more service disruptions. Why the hell haven't any of Canada's governments ever made the development of public transportation networks the same kind of priority as governments in Europe have? Because driving an SUV equals "higher standard of living and individuality"? Get over it. High speed train networks, free WLAN, affordable ticket prices, 5-minute intervals and buses and streetcars that, most of the time, really do keep to their schedules equal a way more advanced society and standard of living to me than any stinky car that burns 15 liters of gas per 100 km.
-In Helsinki, a bit over 10% of people commute by bicycle. In Copenhagen, it's 30%, but in Toronto only 0.8%. It seems like the city of Toronto has been talking about building more bike lanes for several years now, but I don't see it happening. Helsinki is not the best city in the world in terms of bike lanes when compared to cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, but with a bit over of 517 kilometers of segregated, well maintained bike lanes and paths, great publicly built and funded services like Journey Planner for Cyclists, Helsinki, a city of 1 million inhabitants, beats the shit out of Toronto. Why the hell isn't the city of Toronto taking cyclists seriously?
- GO trains, the commuter trains in and around Toronto, are operated with polluting diesel engines because there are no electric rail networks here, and the interval between two trains is 30 min to 1 hour. That sounds like, what, the 60's in Helsinki, but here it's the 21st century.
- Compared to Finland, many gas stations in Canada are in bad, if not horrible condition. Where in Finland there are regulations that force all gas stations to have their main tanks properly sealed and buried in the ground, and vacuums above the pumps to suck the fumes up before they end up in the air, here I see leak marks, the fumes are strong in the air and the pumps are old and rusty. Not everywhere, but in too many places. With tighter regulation, better education and by forcing dirty gas stations to close, Canada could help clean up the soil around gas stations and depots.
- 1700 people die every year from smog related illnesses in Toronto. 1700 people. Every year!
- Countries like Spain, Germany and Denmark are now leading the development of solar and wind power technologies in the world, with several other European countries following, and are going to be way ahead of others, enabling them to sell the new technology to others. Why didn't Canada want to lead in those fields? Why didn't the government want to invest at least some of its $13.2-billion surplus on the development of renewable energy sources instead of giving it away in tax cuts? Because North American governments believe in "capitalism" and "the individual" instead of common good and "communism"? Seems to me like by thinking that way you are losing the game in this free market economy. And if completely free education (yes, free tuition), free health care incl. dental, better public transportation, more high technology and universal daycare like in Finland, while having a better record of unemployment rates, more worldwide recognized brands than Canada, equals "communism" to the average Canadian, then so be it.

And the list goes on... From health care to public transportation to basic infrastructure to environmentalism, it is clear that by complaining about taxes, focusing on the amount of taxes instead of what the collected tax money, whatever the amount, is actually spent on, has resulted in a society and infrastructure that is not horribly worse, but there are noticeable differences and weaknesses almost everywhere.

When the leader of this country calls the UN-administered Kyoto Protocol "a socialist scheme designed to suck money out of rich countries" and says that no country with the same GDP growth as Canada (Finland's GDP grew about twice as much as Canada's last year) can keep up with Kyoto, he's either thinking he's giving his speech to a dumb audience which won't check the facts, or just being blatantly dumb himself, in need of more history lessons, stats and facts, like the leader down south of Canada. My guess is that it's a bit of both, but I could be wrong.