Climate Change has been at the top of the political agenda in BC since the Throne Speech in February 2007.

Provincial greenhouse gas emission targets were set then at 33% below 2007 levels of about 60 million tonnes by 2020 and 80% reduction by 2050. A large body of informed opinion says it's not nearly enough.

Worse, the target of the government's Climate Action Plan, carbon taxes and other initiatives are really only a third of the carbon emissions for which the province is responsible. BC produces 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas each year. When burned, as it almost all is, something in the order of 60 million tonnes of greenhouse gases are released. BC also produces about 26 million tonnes of coal each year. It is virtually all

exported, burned, and another 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and other GHGs are emitted.

The policy and economic focus of the provincial government is to maximize this gas and coal production.

One of the two biggest projects underwritten by the people of BC - the Pacific Gateway - is all about highways and bridges and ports, while the other is a self-indulgent two week party for the global affluent in mid-winter 2010.

Business as usual is not going to cut it, yet the government that will make the necessary decisions to rein in carbon emissions cannot get elected. Where do we go from here?