The “Gore effect” has struck again, this time forcing thousands of Canadian eco-activists to march through the snow over the weekend, rallying against global warming on a cold Quebec City day.
The Globe and Mail reports the “Act On Climate Change” march included “representatives from First Nations, environmental activists and political groups” who are trying to convince politicians to ban oil sands extraction and prevent pipelines from being built to bring that oil to market.
Protesters dressed in red even marched in a formation that made a thermometer, meant to “send a message about climate change” the Globe and Mail reported. If it were a real thermometer it would have shown temperatures at a chilly 44 degrees Fahrenheit by 4 p.m. — the high for the day. Most of the day, however, temperatures were lower with some wind chill and high humidity.
Photos of the march show protesters and onlookers alike bundled up, walking over sleet and snow to protest global warming which scientists predicted over a decade ago would eventually mean the “end of snow.”
“You can either protect our climate or you can develop the tar sands, but you cannot do both at the same time,” Karel Mayrand, Quebec head of the David Suzuki Foundation, told the Globe and Mail. U.S. and Canadian environmentalists have campaigned heavily against oil sands production in Canada, saying it unleashes more greenhouse gases than conventional oil production and is ruining tribal lands.
Eco-activists’ primary target in this battle has been the Keystone XL pipeline. “We’re worried that premiers will meet and say yes to protecting our climate and, at the same time, yes to oil infrastructure such as pipelines and expanding oil sands production,” she said. But with a legislative effort to approve Keystone XL vetoed by President Obama, environmentalists are expanding their campaign to target other energy projects aimed at moving oil sands to world markets. Their goal is to strangle the industry by making it impossible to move oil sands.
But the “Gore effect” may, once again, blunt environmentalists’ message on global warming. The “Gore effect” is when cold weather appears as activists protest global warming. These Canadian groups aren’t the first to be hit by the “Gore effect” this year.
Students protests against global warming planned at Yale University were cancelled in February due to “unfavorable weather conditions and other logistical issues,” according to organizers. The protests were meant to convince the school to divest its endowment of fossil fuels holdings — which the school soundly rejected last year.
