Global warming is a fact
When an elected official uses “scientific” and “politically” in the same sentence, the public should know what would take precedence in that elected official’s mind.
When you pit science and ecology against politics, there is no doubt of the outcome.
The larger industrial countries have all but stalled the Kyoto negotiations.
Canada put its own scientists on the sidelines and replaced them with a team of deputy ministers of Trade at the World Kyoto meeting on global warming.
Instead of a scientific approach, they suggested establishing a system of carbon credits.
In short, this would allow Canada to plant more trees that would, eventually, reduce carbon in the air.
This would give Canada more credits, and that would allow Canadian industry to carry on its present level of air pollution.
Canada became the laughing stock of the world — that is until the world’s No. 1 cowboy, George W. Bush, pulled United States out of the Kyoto agreement.
Canada’s own stable man Stephen Harper sent his people to pick up after the cowboy.
Scientists have shown that worldwide temperatures have risen in the lower atmosphere during the past 40 years.
Water levels have risen as snow cover has decreased.
The average night temperatures are warming at twice that of daytime temperatures. This has resulted in such waters as James Bay being ice free for three extra months.
Scientific data shows the average global sea level has raised two-10ths of a metre in the 20th century.
Possibly that is insignificant in everyday measurements, but is 10 times greater than the average over the past 3,000 years.
Information gathered by the University of Massachusetts showed a clear pattern of global warming temperatures in the 20th century.
The statement, ‘Global warming is a natural process,’ is avoiding the science.
The World IPCC scientific study shows that the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by one third since 1750.
It also notes that two thirds of the increase in atmospheric CO 2 over the past 20 years is due to the burning of fossil fuel.
The remaining factor is due to deforestation as well as cement production.
During the same period, atmospheric methane has increased. Nitrous oxide has also jumped during this same period.
Scientists are very concerned, but don’t expect politicians to share the concern as oil and politics outweigh science and ecology.
The IPCC Impact Adaptation and Vulnerability report, provides scientific data that identifies a rise in average surface temperatures as much as 5.8 degree Celsius by the year 2100 from 1990.
Climatologists say a rise of only 3.5 degrees C. would put Canada back into the ice age and entombed in 1.6 kilometres of ice.
What does this all mean?
We could plant more trees, as the deputy ministers suggested, but then a tree planted today does very little to clean up air pollution until about 10 years after it is planted.
Planting trees in the boreal forest area would take at least twice that time.
We could cut the use of fossil fuel, but that would cut jobs and politicians would not allow that.
As the world population expands there is a large demand for agricultural produce.
At the same time, there’s expanding housing demand in big cities such as Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
We are taking agriculture lands out of production to make way for housing, not to mention more industry.
This also leads to depletion of the water tables, pollution and, consequently, adds to global warming.
Our oceans, while warming up, are being fished out.
The fish can not compete against both global warming and the commercial fishery.
The ocean fishery surged past $82 million in 2006; these fisheries are now below sustainable yield, but the demand for the fish is ever increasing.
The North Atlantic fishery has already collapsed. The Pacific fishery is being hard hit. Other world fisheries are on the verge of collapse.
Enter another problem: genetically altered farm-raised fish.
If such fish (or any other genetically altered animal) is released into the wild, this could spell a disaster for the wild species.
Scientists have now found a new fungus that attacks the skins of amphibians in South America.
Fortunately, the Yukon is located within one of the five remaining frontier forests, which incidentally, are the last of the world’s true wildernesses.
Through global warming and our over-harvesting, the planet and those inhabiting it will pay a severe price.
The answer to all this can be found in the writings of the original International Kyoto Agreement, or the original Montreal Kyoto Protocol.
Is there a politician who will stand up to his or her leaders and political parties and tell them to listen to the scientists and forget about the cursed politics?
Murray J. Martin
Whitehorse