Let’s get clear about the ‘professional community’ in question.
The paper, and its conclusion, affirms what we already know: when faced with the situation of the science, Conservative-thinking business leaders in Alberta, and the federal government in Canada, are not thinking of action plans. The paper’s authors suggest the need to re-frame to the familiar and practical approach of risk management, especially for senior corporate, government and business professionals who form the most ‘skeptical’ group surveyed in that provincial and federal context.
The paper includes references to petroleum companies concerned about damage to their infrastructure, and to Canadian engineers involved in changing building codes (because of impacts of climate change). So while they may be distracted by party politics at this time, they’re not idiots (well, for the sake of Canadians, let’s hope not).
Appallingly, a reactionary Canada is the Chair of the Arctic Council in 2013. We’ll see how it goes. As anyone who reads international media can see, there are serious concerns that the Canadian government will narrow the Council to its own extremely narrow domestic agenda and promotion of the Alberta oil sands.
On the other hand, the reality of melting in the North and the pressure that can be exerted by Northern communities and their leadership, especially with international support from other Council members, could be yet another wake up call for Conservatives in Canada to get real about the need for risk management. Views such as those surveyed are defensive and narrow, rather than proactively-oriented and in the interests of inter-related economic bases and regions.
That’s an interesting paper, especially for anyone familiar with Alberta politics and economics.