"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.

career cruising

the career i selected was a lawyer - the career selections did match up there were many careers that dealt with law - there were also many artistic careers suggested which is another feild I am interested in. It only listed universities, no cejeps but there were many different universities I could go to.
None of the requirments for being a lawyer are things that I wouldn't want to do. I think law is definitly well suited for me - I am very accurate and precise and organized when it comes things, so in that way I would do my job very well. When it says in the description that it is seven years more of education past high school, I think, wow that is a lot, I better really want to do law and I don't know if that is definitly what I want to do, I just know I could probably do it well.

smokin' stoves

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061024214803.htm

“In a field test in Honduras, the researchers found that cook stoves there, which are similar to those used in other developing nations, produce two times more smoke particles than expected, based on previous laboratory studies. These dark, sooty particles, which are darker than those produced by grassland or forest fires, have a climate warming effect because they absorb solar energy and heat the atmosphere, according to Roden.”

In addition to the affects it causes to the environment, they also pose health hazards for the users. This article taught me that there are millions of things which contribute to global warming and that everyday we discover another thing which is bad for the environment. It is good that we are finding these problems, and the hopefully attempt to fix them and make it better, but it also just shows us that we can’t avoid it either, for people who are paranoid, we must learn that there will always be something which is bad, that is unavoidable – we need to chose and prioritize right now, we can pick which things are better or more efficient even if both are bad for the environment, you can chose the one which is less bad. Or if you have something which is usefull bu harmful to the environment, maybe cut back on something else.
More related to this specific article, these people in these countries need these stoves to cook their food, if we are able to provide them with these resources we should, but then the question becomes – do we risk harming the environment and possibly people’s health to provide people the means to cook food? I think so – but in the mean time we should try and develop better technology and stoves etc. Thankfully the company which provided these stoves is redistributing new ones:
“Trees, Water & People and other nonprofit agencies are distributing new low-cost, wood-burning cook stoves in Honduras and other Latin American countries that appear to be less polluting and more fuel efficient, according to the researchers. However, further analysis is needed.
"Designing and distributing improved cook stoves may be an effective method of mitigating global climate change, and can improve the health of the users," Roden said. "However, the cook stoves must be well designed and properly tested. They must be built with local traditions and practices in mind and must be easy to use, or they may become expensive doorstops."”

are the phytoplanktons causing us troubles?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061013202025.htm
Here I discovered that along with humans contributing to global warming, there are natural causes as well. Yes I knew there were many many reasons, but this is a new one for me. Basically, this article explains how the phytoplankton in the ocean move so much that the total amount of energy they produce is a lot! Here are some quotes so that you can understand it better:
"Physical and biological oceanographers led by FSU Professor William Dewar put the yearly amount of chemical power stored by phytoplankton in the form of new organic matter at roughly 63 terawatts, and that's a lot of juice: Just one terawatt equals a trillion watts. In 2001, humans collectively consumed a comparatively measly 13.5 terawatts. "
"What's more, their study found that the marine biosphere ---- the chain of sea life anchored by phytoplankton ---- invests around one percent (1 terawatt) of its chemical power fortune in mechanical energy, which is manifested in the swimming motions of hungry ocean swimmers ranging from whales and fish to shrimp and krill. Those swimming motions mix the water much as cream is stirred into coffee by swiping a spoon through it.
And the sum of all that phytoplankton-fueled stirring may equal climate control."
"In fact, he explained, biosphere mixing appears to provide about one third the power required to bring the deep, cold waters of the world ocean to the surface, which in turn completes the ocean's conveyor belt circulation critical to the global climate system. "
This surprised me a lot because I had always thought that humans were pretty much the cause of global warming etc. But here it shows that this is something completely out of our control that has happened naturally so unfortunately we need to accept the consequences that come from it. We cannot eliminate all the phytoplankton in the world because they are important to it and they wouldn’t be here if they weren’t needed for something. It is sort of scary to think that something so little can collectively be SO powerful and it is scary as well because there is nothing we can do about it. The world evolves and changes, we can try and do some things to help slow down global warming and all those types of things, but I guess part of it is just natural and would happen normally with out our help. This is very new to me; I never would have thought that the world itself would be partly to blame for all these changes, so it makes me wonder if it has to happen. Does our climate need to change? If so should we let it, or is it a bad thing even if it is happening naturally, in which case we should try and slow it down.