"The issue goes mainstream"

I found an article in the montreal Gazette, it talks about how now pretty much the entire public knows about global warming, even comedians make jokes about the government trying to deal with it. Some highlighted points of this article:

"In an ipsos reid poll published last month, 90% of Canadians polled expressed some concern about global warming. And 63 % said they felt 'desperately concerned that if we don't take drastic action right now, the world may not last longer than a couple of generations.' "
I'm glad people are getting more aware and realizing that something has to be done.

Many movies have also helped attract attention to the issue.
This helps get the general public more aware

" No one wants to be lumped into what is more and more commonly considered the Flat Earth Society, those who, despite overwhelming evidence, refuse to believe that the earth is round, that smoking causes cancer and that global warming is a crisis"
These people are just plain ignorant, they won't admit that something is wrong probably because they are to selfish to do anything about it, they don't want to compromise their life style.

The comedy show Rick Mercer reports frequently comments on global warming and how the government deals with it
No one wants to make lifestyle changes, but what they don't realize is that you don't HAVE to take it to the extreme, you don't need to "drive a car fuelled by lettuce" you just have to do your part, take the metro or bus more often etc. it doesn't have to be that hard!
In 2003-2004 Hydro Quebec wanted to make a natural gas plant but many Quebecers rallied against this, it wouldn't help Quebec reach its Kyoto target.
I've heard as well that Quebec is pretty good at being aware of global warming and that makes me proud to be a part of that

"To say something is going to happen in three or four generations is not going to do it (as in make people react) Regrettably, people are not that altruistic"
People respond to immediate rewards
This makes me pretty sad, why do people have to be like that? Unfortunatly that is just part of our human nature, we are selfish, but that shouldn't be the be all and end all of how we act and respond to things.

"Look at what happened in Europe. The EU has reduced emissions to below their 1990 levels and at the same time the (overall) economy has grown by 32 per cent"
Why can't we, Canada and North America in general, be more responsive to global warming, obviously it is possible to reduce emissions, it can be done, people just need to suck it up and be more dedicated! Obviously it takes work and longer than a year to make a change.


Now to end, here is a quote by Jay Leno:
"According to a survey in this week's Time magazine, 85 per cent of Americans think global warming is happening. The other 15 per cent work for the White House."

Lalonde, Michelle. "The issue goes mainstream." The Montreal Gazette 18 Nov. 2006 B3

What's happening to the animals!?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061115090040.htm

Although somewhat vague, this article talks about the effects that global warming is having on animals and different species through out the world. Since these days we are getting more and more information about all these species, and all the different things that are happening, some conclusions can finally be made. Some of the observations that have been made are as follows:
"Previously published predictions, including those co-authored by Parmesan in a 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, were that species restricted to cold climate habitats like the Earth's poles or mountain tops and with narrow temperature tolerances (for example, tropical corals) would be most affected by global warming. Less than a decade later, those predictions have been born out."
"Some species that are adapted to a wide array of environments--globally common, or what we call weedy or urban species--will be most likely to persist," said Parmesan. "Rare species that live in fragile or extreme habitats are already being affected, and we expect that to continue."

This is something which is very hard to help change. To try and save these species, is extremely difficult because how are we supposed to do that? We can't change the weather, the only thing that we can do is try and slow down climate change. But even so, these plants and animals are already affected. It's impossible to save every little animals and every little plant. In a way this is natures way of eliminating the weaker species, but does it have to happen so suddenly? Do so many have to suffer? I would like to think no, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the case. So I guess that right now we should try and slow the process down however we can, be it fighting global warming, making people more aware of the extinction possibilities of all of these species, and find means to help in whatever way we can. Things that are becoming extinct due to global warming are harder to save than ones that are becoming extinct due to hunters etc, although when looking closer it is all the fault of human beings, and that is quite sad. Don't people realize that they should be more careful in what they're doing and realize that this world isn't only theirs to abuse, that other things are affected as well?

Canada and the Kyoto protocol

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11628

This article states that Canada, even though it will probably not meet its target, will not pull out of the Kyoto Protocol.
"Under Kyoto, Canada has to cut its emissions by 6 percent by 2012 compared to 1990 levels, but it is exceeding this by about one-third and its emissions are on the up."
"Under Kyoto rules if Canada does not meet its targets by 2012 it could face sanctions such as more onerous cuts and suspension from the flexibility mechanisms, a U.N. climate body spokesman said."
I think that if there is a problem, that obviously Canada should try and fix it, or do their best to get as close to their target as possible. It is good that they do not want to pull out of the protocol, becuase that shows that they still care, but this kind of thing is difficult to achieve unless you start at the begining and are very disciplined about it.
I congratulate all the countries who have commited to the protocol, it takes a lot to reduce a country's emmisions, and so congratulations to those who will achieve their target. I am not saying that Canada isn't making an effort, or that Canada hasn't reduced their emisions, becuase I do not have the facts to back up that up, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I just hope that governments realize that it is action that will change things, not words and so to reduce our emissions we need to do more than just say we will and then when it gets closer to the date announce that it won't be possible to reach the target. To pull out of the protocol is whimping out, if you sign up, then you are supposed to try and commite to it, not whimp out when it gets tough. If you know that it takes a lot of work to change something, and you know that you want to, shouldn't you make that effort. Sure it means it will be difficult but its better in the long run. It says near the end that:
' "We (Canada) are saying that we won't meet our Kyoto targets without even trying and that's intolerable." '

Climate affects the economy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6099272.stm

This report says that there will be direct links from global warming and economic growth and that the economy will suffer due to it. It says that the developping nations will have more trouble dealing with it. For example India - there are still people who are aspiring to be rich and have cars etc so they will become "the polluters of the futur" so we need to look out for that. Also in Africa lots of their food and crops depend on the weather, they already don't have enough food as ois, and when the weather starts limiting it even more then their is a much larger problem. I think that since there are so many problems which will be caused by global warming it is good that finally it is getting recognized and people are planning on doing something about it. What bothers me, is that in part of the report it says that China is one of the worst polluted cities on earth and that since it is a developping nation still, it technically doesn't need to make cut backs on gas emissions, although I believe they will still try and reduce them a bit, and it says that they will start making 10% of their industries etc run on renewable resources, so that is comforting. It is good that people are starting to realize that not only our weather is going to be changed. Unfortunatly it takes something closer to home, such as your money being affected etc to make people think, hmm I should start trying to change something. It shows that people really do act at a pretty selfish level, but hey if this is what it takes to get people to do something, then I am not against it.