We've all been hearing the litany of problems with tar sands from the environmental impacts to the public health consequences.  However, how much more needs to happen for our decision makers to act now?  Scientists who have specialized in monitoring our climate are speaking out and are joined by large networks of organizations all with a common goal- tackle climate change by promoting effective solutions and preventing actions that make our jobs harder. 

Earlier this week, the Climate Action Network in both the United States and Canada sent a letter to President Obama that criticizes the Canadian government's reliance on flawed intensity targets and promotes President Obama's renewable and environmentally sustainable energy path. 

The Climate Action Network Canada and the United States Climate Action Network represent more than 100 leading organizations in the U.S. and Canada that are working together to tackle climate change and promote sustainable and equitable solutions.

In their letter they raise concerns with reports that Canadian government officials are trying to use the upcoming trip to Canada as a way to gain protections for the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas pollution in Canada-Alberta's tar sands.  It is important that we understand why such an approach is incompatible with where climate science is telling us where we need to be for us to have a shot at preventing irreversible damage.

"Tar Sands are a Double-barreled Threat"

James Hansen, the Director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, recently published an Op-Ed and was interviewed about President Obama's trip to Canada and his message was clear: We can't exploit carbon-intensive tar sands because we have overloaded our environment and now there's no more room for more atmospheric carbon dioxide- a global warming pollution causing gas.

As a climate scientist, he raised his concerns with tar sands oil and its devastating climate impacts.  He explains that to preserves our coral reefs, arctic sea ice, mountain glaciers and rich biodiversity to name only a few, we need to reverse our current trajectory and quickly. According to Hansen's analysis we need to keep the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to no more than 350 parts per million (ppm).  Sadly, our planet is already at 385 ppm and growing by about 2 ppm each year. 

He proposes that we need to address our energy and environment challenges in a way that does not sacrifice the progress of one for the other.  They must also be addressed with prompt action.  With prompt action, we can do more to prevent irreversible damage to our planet and avert or possibly reverse impacts to our planet that are seemingly inevitable such as the loss of our mountain glaciers, the source of freshwater for billions of people, the destruction of our coral reefs, and more unpredictable and extreme climatic weather events such as droughts and floods with greater frequency. 

He comments, that "the tar sands of Canada constitute one of our planet's greatest threats. They are a double-barreled threat. First, producing oil from tar sands emits two to three times the global warming pollution of conventional oil. But the process also diminishes one of the best carbon reduction tools on the planet -- Canada's Boreal Forest."

During a press conference on Tuesday, George Woodwell, Director Emeritus of Woods Hole Research Center and Senior Scientist, raised similar concerns with the immediacy of our climate crisis and noted that global warming is "a matter as serious as nuclear war and we have not realized this possibility."  He also stressed the important role Canada's Boreal Forest plays in climate stabilization.

We CAN Help Solve the Climate Crisis

To correct the problem George Woodwell recommended that we need to both manage forests on a global basis and reduce use of fossil fuels.  Our need to stabilize the composition of our atmosphere immediately requires, among other things, the cessation of deforestation in our primary forests, improvements in efficiency and use of energy and a shift to renewable energy. 

To further Woodwell's recommendations, we also need advancements in low carbon high-efficiency products and phase-out of our use of fossil fuels.  This also means that the development of unconventional and synthetic fuels, such as tar sands, oil shale, and liquid coal, present a significant obstacle in our path towards rapid decarbonization.   Expansion in these high carbon fuels cannot fit into a science-based climate stabilization pathway.  At a time when we are on the brink of real transformative changes and innovation in our access to renewable energy supplies, now is not the time to turn to more fossil fuels and unconventional fuels that are even more greenhouse gas intensive than their conventional counterparts. 

The Climate Action Networks in Canada and the U.S. addressed in their letter to President Obama how the energy trade between the U.S. and Canada can shift to renewable energy and technologies for energy efficiency. 

Canada is a vast country with prodigious and largely untapped renewable energy potential. Both countries also have world-class expertise in energy efficiency that is waiting for widespread deployment. Studies show that there are more jobs created by investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency than in fossil fuels.

Therefore, they recommended that for our countries to move forward together, Canada needs to overhaul its current approach and raise its level of ambition to have a credible climate change policy. They call for need science-based caps on emissions with auctioning of permits, no special exemptions for any polluting sectors, and global warming solutions in both our countries that lead to real and rapid emission reductions.

As Lord Nicholas Stern has repeatedly said, if we achieve these technology advancements, "We'll still move around, we'll heat our homes - homes will be more efficient and close to zero-carbon electricity. But at the same time it will be cleaner, quieter, more biodiverse, all those things. It will actually be much nicer."

For the first time in 8 years, at the helm of the United States is a leader who is promoting a low-carbon development pathway that focuses on a green economy.  This is a very welcome change and one that we hope our President can share with Canada.