The election of Stephane Dion, swathed in green, as leader of the Liberal Party ensures that the national discussion on climate change will continue.

There will be calls that the solution is a renewed commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. Or sequestering carbon dioxide emitted during drilling in the Alberta tar sands. Or growing biofuels. Building plug-in hybrid cars. Wind turbines. Solar water heaters. Any number of the other cutting-edge technologies and ideas you read about on Worldchanging.

Before getting into another argument about the best way for Canada to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, there are three words we should all learn. In fact, only two words if you embrace hyphens.

Single-action bias

Psychologist Elke Weber of Columbia coined the term in a 1997 paper on perception of climate change. The concept is simple. We tend to pursue only one action when faced with a risk or threat. The chosen action may be a good way to reduce the risk. It may not. Regardless, taking the action will often suffice in reducing how much we are worrying about the risk. Since we are no longer that worried, we are much less likely to take any additional actions.

Canada fell prey to the single-action bias upon signing the Kyoto Protocol. That action brought widespread satisfaction that Canada was addressing climate change. The Kyoto pledge was born: state support for the Kyoto Protocol and it means you were doing something. That action alone was sufficient to reduce the public worry, regardless of the fact that the next crucial action, the implementation of actual emissions reductions, was not pursued with gusto. The result is that Canada’s greenhouse gas emission grew to 27% over 1990 levels or 35% over the Kyoto target.

We've learned that there is no single action, no single legislative decree, that will solve the problem. But that's good news. It means that regardless of your community, your sector of the economy, your level of government, there is something you can do.

The answer to the multiple choice question of climate change is not be (a), (b), (c) or (d) or (e). The answer is all of the above.

Human nature is self destruction..we are insane. Lazy. Deluded. Apathetic. Self centered. Greedy. Shit where we stand sheep..get over that and its a snap.;-)

Ego. Some where, someone learned how to turn the thinker off and the narcissist on..the thinker is hidden behind the ego..the incessant babbler..i know meditation opens the channel to the better half or greater part of our psychic/spirit selves..shuts the ego up and allows wisedom to flourish..so simple.. so natural.. and so insanely avoided in the west its pathetic..
God bless the exceptions to my every rule and there are many..;-) or so i hope too.

The realm of the norm has become a disease..normal is nuts..blind.. ignorant..uncaring.. uncivil..well..am i wrong ? Have i spent frustrating decades trying to educate the unteachable.. YES..am i ignored..completely.. do i continue.. yes.

Do the eastern countries, those sane among them, know that the west is regressive, certainly..that we are spoiled brats with more money than brains.. absolutely..
just looking at mean IQ's globally is a shocker..whose the slowest brainiac on earth..and i am one of them..partly, (how ever more blessed with smarts than the average,;-) ), euro caucasians..the slowest have the mostest and bestest of everything..and they'll commit mass murder to keep it that way , right George..Steven ? ;-)
This upside down backward world.. has the misinformed view that white is right..sorry.. research has shown that white is not right..that black is not stupid.. that indos are quicker..that chinese are smarter..that aboriginals are, with blacks., and chinese, indos, the brightest of the pack..do we listen.. nooo.. we scorn them..( i am everyone..( a hybrid.. or a mongrel dog, depending on ones hate conditioning religion),more lunacy..lol.. hybrids are the smartest, fastest, strongest, most co-ordinated, creative and spiritually motivated people there are..all mixed up..stigmatised by primitives and "elites" alike..the deluded, self agrandising, egomaniacs devoid of any intellectual abiltiy what ever, creative as slugs.. hense the new talentless talent genre we see everywhere,lol..controlling everything..the priest crafters.. the politicians..the corporate moguls..the normal..are killing us for profits..enslaving us, butchering us by the thousands..and we race to work to play the consumer game and make THEM richer.
Being all mixed up..is great..i love being french and scotish and irish, hebrew.. chinese, indonesian,malaysian, ojibwe, cree.. i love all of me and have no problem disparraging the pure blood parts of me..is that self awareness or what ? lol.
It aint easy being a rainbow of color and cultures..

It aint easy seeing and hearing every day the idiocy that is normalcy..sorry.. but thats the trute ..and until we get the micro managing maniacs in line nothing will change..if the people prefer this world over a better smarter kinder one then.. have it..it will kill you all..no loss there..i do my meager best..i work it..i study the problem.. i seek answers..always its the experts among us who get in the way..
the nay sayers.. the "leaders" who sabatage our every efforts at reform..and we the people need know our individual limitations to be able to grow and streatch to something greater than our conditioned parts..
Its sad, its bad.. and we in deep poo poo..people.lol.

I spent, by midnight tonight.. 58 years studying this guy, myself and learned many things i didnt like about him.. and there by, was able to change him..i dont see many who look within... who audit their worth in any but monetary fashion..cheap and shallow mirror gazers..its deeper, its more complex than anything we have to accomplish..its self healing..self knowledge..clear eyed and mindfully pressing.. discipline..sacrifice..investment..and we havent got the grit to do the job..how can we change a world when cant change the guy in the mirror a whit..?
so.. in my old age i am accepting that mankind will self destruct.. well no loss..and you know.. death isnt so bad.. been dead twice..maybe next trip i can remain there,lol.. so.. all things considered..enjoy it while you have it.. forget the sad state of the world.. it dosnt matter..its all illusion and distraction.. coveting and lusting and consuming madness..be above it.. grieve the planet and move on.. cut up the credit cards and retire the phallic weapon of mass destruction..
take your sunny days and sweet mountain airs while they last.. be happy..dont worry..its all in the grand scheme of things..nothing is permanent..no one gets off this rock alive but nasa.;-)and further more..the muslim people are the best thing, with the chinese, and the indo peoples, the blacks.. to happen to north america..stupid whiteman is a curse..( thats my injun talkin) im old.. im sage.. ive been around and i know the score..you want bullshit over boogy..go to the land of one nation under disney world..they'll love ya..follow that lot and see where it leads..no water, no trees, no resources and a deficite higher than i can count..a debt to choke a whole herd of elephants..and payments coming due..good bye america..we follow them.. we sink with them..they can support their own buck..america can have the oppium trade, the oil.. in afganistan..our blood dosnt pay for american greed and stupidity.. they reap their own whirl wind.. just deserts..and again.. God bless the exceptions to my every rule..i know they are out there struggling too..
Merry Christmas.. and no.. i am not a christer..i am a human being..fully functioning brain and heart.. conscience and intellect..i give up..lol..going to buy my green space and carve my eagles and bears..do my multifaceted cultural best to forget the entire planetary scene..smell the trees and swat mosquitoes out there amoung the mountains till my personal dooms day arrives..on horse back..or solar buggie..cheap efficient transport and a do it yourself project a kid can handle..
Woe the day a logger shows up to cut MY trees,lol.. buck shot..lol.

piss in my waters and lose the hose..lol.

SO good luck young uns.. got the biggest baddest job any could have..i hope you can do it..if you need me..
call me..oh..sorry no phone no pool lots pets..i see a bad moon rising..and no.. ive never been a materialist sort..been sucking tax payer money for decades too,lol..we care for our disabled pioneers here.. and yes i paid my share..
adios amigos.. ill think of you out there..all gasping and choking in the filthy city..working your guts out for nothing but inflation..lol..
peace. ( Please Simone or blog owner, let these words pass the critical eye..its just the trute as grand father sees it..) ;-)peace again..

Posted by: William Lawson on December 20, 2006 6:38 PM