Peeping out from an insulated sleeping bag onEdmonton’s windswept legislative grounds, perpetualeco-campaigner Tooker Gomberg is trying to convince,coerce or cajole Alberta Premier Ralph Klein intosupporting Canada’s ratification of the KyotoProtocol.

In order for the protocol to becomeinternational law, it has to be ratified by a minimumof fifty-five countries representing at least fifty-five per cent ofindustrial emissions at 1990 levels.

He and a growing team of supporters have exchanged round-the-clock shifts on the grounds of Alberta’s legislative buildingssince last Monday, gathering encouragement anddonated coffee from passers-by and communicatingtheir message to any elected official who will stop long enough to listen(the makeshift campsite is located along a pathfrequented by MLAs travelling between governmentbuildings).

“If you have several million dollars, you launch an advertising campaign — if you’re a grassroots activist, you camp out on the steps of thelegislature,” says Gomberg. “During the day there may betwenty or twenty-five MLAs that pass by us. We engage them inconversation and we show them what a solar shingle looks like and we give them copies of the lostreport.”

What Gomberg affectionately refers to as “the lost report” is actually a provincial government document with the slightly less catchy title “A Discussion Paper on the Potential for Reducing CO2 Emissions in Alberta.” It was prepared bythe Energy Efficiency Branch of the Alberta Department of Energy back in 1990.

“It’s a blockbuster,” says Gomberg. “This document clearly shows that with an investment of $6.7 billion in energy efficiency, the province wouldrealize an annual return of $2.2 billion — that’s essentially a rate of return of over thirty per cent per year on every dollar invested. I’m hoping that Premier Klein and his cabinet will join the world community by adopting the plan laid out in this report and going beyond Kyoto targets.”

While the Canadian public is in favour of Kyoto’s ratification and as the federal government pushes ahead, the corporate agenda is pushing hard in adifferent direction. National PR, a firm partially owned by PR giant Burson-Marsteller,has been campaigning aggressively in Alberta againstthe Kyoto Accord.

“I appreciate that Premier Klein is feeling enormouspressure from the largest corporations on the planetto block Kyoto — quite frankly, I wouldn’t want to bein his shoes,” he says. “The Alberta legislature andPremier Klein are the eye of the Kyoto storm.”

Gomberg likens Klein’s stance on Kyoto to the legend of King Canute, a vain ruler who positioned his throne on the seashore believing the ocean tide would recede at his command (needless to say Klein, or, er, Canute, ends up all wet in the end).

“Ralph Klein is standing there saying ’No, we won’thave this renewable era, we will continue with oil andwith natural gas and coal — that is the future,’”Gomberg says, stifling a chuckle as he caricaturesKlein. “The tide is coming. Change is happening. Ithink I’m helping Premier Klein out here — I’mthrowing him a life jacket.”

If Klein is like the soggy King, Gomberghimself resembles a topsy-turvy Don Quixote, tiltingat those who refuse to invest in windmills.

At noon today (Mountain Standard Time), Gomberg and other environmentalactivists, poets, politicians and musicians willgather on the steps of the Alberta legislature todiscuss Kyoto, the future of Alberta and our planet.