U.S. needs cleaner fuels than tar sands oil

WASHINGTON – Anything that allows America to continue its dependence on carbon fossil fuels – whether the sprawling tar sands of Canada or the petroleum pools under Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – completely misses the point about shifting to alternative energy sources.

Alternative sources should be real energy alternatives like wind, solar and geothermal power rather than alternative fossil fuel sources that often give off more greenhouse gases than conventional crude oil. Without making that crucial distinction we will continue to stoke the boilers of global warming that are destroying our planet’s all-too fragile environment at an ever-increasing rate.

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http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/03/31/opinion/gazette/34-gazetteopinion.txt 

Tories reject opposition pledge on global warming

OTTAWA – The Harper government has rejected a new pledge taken by opposition leaders to endorse a tough international treaty to fight global warming.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, the Bloc Quebecois’ Gilles Duceppe and the NDP’s Jack Layton all signed the pledge to push for a post-Kyoto Protocol climate change agreement that would prevent average global temperatures from rising by more than two degrees Celsius above 19th-century levels “because scientists have shown that, otherwise, the consequences of global warming are likely to be catastrophic.”

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http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=a18decb6-a686-4d19-9ae2-da17d872b63b&k=39533

Environmental groups name Ed Stelmach ‘Fossil Fool’ of the year

CALGARY – Premier Ed Stelmach has been voted Canada’s Fossil Fool of the year by a coalition of environmental groups.

Stelmach earned the dubious distinction for his promotion of the northern Alberta oilsands, refusal to touch the brake on development in the region and releasing a greenhouse gas plan that implements only intensity-based targets.

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http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=3155985c-f727-417a-8363-c04008cd4d85&k=23711