Here's a statement from a press release:

"The Aspen Institute proudly announces the winners of the second annual Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Awards, which will be presented at a special ceremony on March 27, 2009, during the Aspen Environment Forum."

Ok, so the Aspen Institute is giving awards to Van Jones for Thought Leadership (ok, great, applaud that), Wal-Mart for Corporate Energy Efficiency (ok, yeah, see that), and the Province of Alberta, Canada's Carbon Capture Initiative for Government (what the...).

Is this the same province that's trying to sell us 3 million barrels of dirty tar sands crude oil per day?  The same one President Obama said would have to work with our climate policies? Which, of course, is why Alberta is working on carbon capture. However you might feel about Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)--the idea that we can keep our global warming pollution underground--this is a pretty weak award.

This is like dessert before dinner. This is like tipping the pizza guy for the pie that went sideways on the back of his scooter. This is like looking for love after your spouse asks you to close the car window and you put the top down.

This is the same Alberta currently pumping 1.8 million barrels of tar sands per day and feeding the oil addiction. Actually, pumping isn't even the correct term. It has to be blasted out of the ground with natural gas. Then it has to be scooped and mined out, it's so thick. Then it has to be flooded with water to take the dirt out and then refined. The water, by the way, gets dumped into massive tailing ponds so foul, birds that land in the pools die almost instantly.

What's more is Alberta has only pledged to cut 14 percent of its 2005 carbon emissions by the year 2050. Why such a weak target? Because even Alberta admits it can't pump carbon out due to the tar sands' geographically wide and technically diverse areas. 

It's not even like they lost the speed round and now have to go home with the version of the home game. Alberta just showed up and the game host is giving them the car.

Of course, the Aspen Institute says part of the reason for the wards is to

"...provoke intellectually stimulating and productive thinking and conversations about ways to emulate and expand upon the success stories honored."

Well, I'm stimulated.