THE VOICE on the other end of the phone is frustrated. "I just can't figure it out - whose side are you on?" I get that a lot lately as I descend into the depths of complex climate policy in Alberta - a region which is currently economically dependent on oil exports, but for the first time in 44 years has had a change of government and now has a progressive majority committed to acting on climate change. My frustrated caller could just as easily have been an oil executive or an environmentalist because both "camps" have created boundaries or positions that define whose side one is on. Even our language in Canada these days defines which camp we belong to - use the term "tarsands" and you are immediately identified as an enemy of industry and Alberta. Use the term "oilsands" and environmentalists will charge that you have become "co-opted," while government and industry will consider you "more reasonable."
展开▼
