Not exactly a riot, but NDP leader Jack Layton was out to show support for international measures to fight climate change.

By refusing to act decisively on climate change until Bush does, the Harper government has effectively given the industrial world’s biggest foot-dragger on global warming the final say on any intergovernmental effort. One wonders why anyone bothers holding meetings of environment ministers anymore.

The newly green Conservatives may not want to do anything to slow down the economy, but they appear to be putting the brakes on gas-guzzling SUVs with a new environmental levy that could come to as much as $4000.

People sometimes wonder why things like globalization, GMOs, or maltreated seals provoke outrage and protest, while the prospect of immanent planetary disaster do not, really. Well, protesters have finally arrived in Ottawa.

The Harper government is taking two days to consider opposition amendments to proposed legislation, despite the fact that the committee is working against a self-imposed deadline. Meanwhile, John Baird continued to rail against the Liberals’ cap system, on the grounds that it allows companies to pollute as long as they pay fines. It would seem to follow that he has concerns about our legal system, which permits people to murder, just so long as they go to prison afterwards.

The Conservatives managed the near-impossible by reversing themselves on earlier pronouncements against participating in Kyoto, and still not figuring out a way to decisively cut emissions, hinting that Canadian companies may be allowed to take advantage of the Clean Development Mechanism, which allows rich countries to by emissions allowances from developing nations, but not to take part in a market like the European ETS. No doubt Canada’s corporations, which are eager to get into the carbon market, are delighted that Baird is telling them what they can and can’t do.

Australia’s largest city will be plunged into darkness for an hour on Saturday in a world first blackout to raise awareness of global warming.

Companies in Hungary are beginning to see the benefits of social responsibility, according to Kincső Adriány, from the Hungarian Business Leaders’ Forum Corporate responsibility in Hungary is “getting there”, says Kincső Adriány, executive director of the Hungarian Business Leaders’ Forum. Levels of practice and understanding are broadly comparable to those in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, but reaching western European standards could take “ten, 20, even 25 years”.

In 20 years, tens of millions more Latin Americans and hundreds of millions more Africans will be short of water, and by 2050 one billion Asians could face water shortages. The glaciers of the Himalayas, which feed the great rivers of the continent, are likely to melt away almost completely by 2035, threatening the lives of 700 million people. And when your resources run out, you go try to take someone else’s.

When Parliament resumes sitting April 16 after a two-week Easter break, its first order of business will be a vote on the Conservative government’s Clean Air Act, which has been greatly amended by the opposition parties. That’s the good news. It may also be good news that Harper may feel confident enough to test his legislation at the polls. If so, we’d better understand the issues.