The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
What I Know For Sure On October 18, a group of cold but cheerful Flin Flonners filled the 100 Stairs, holding signs and singing to Stephen Harper about the upcoming Copenhagen summit. If you were there, you were one of many, gathering around the globe in a united effort that was heartening, inspiring, but ultimately, not so successful. Stephen Harper may have a good ear for music, but he was deaf to the thousands of Canadians chanting and singing on that day. Since then, the debate over global warming has been reheating like a plate of tired leftovers. On one side are scientists like David Suzuki, who are convinced that man-made CO2 is damaging our planet. On the other are columnists like Maclean's Magazine's Mark Steyn, a writer so right leaning he considers any suggestion toward conservation to be a threat to his individual liberty. Most folks land somewhere in the middle, though it's easier to be a believer when you've breathed your way through level two air quality warnings. I'd like to clear the air (oh, if only I could) with, to quote Oprah, "A few things I know for sure." 1. The polar ice is shrinking at a rate of nine per cent a year. The largest single block of ice, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, which lies along the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, started cracking in 2000. Within two years it had broken in half and is now breaking off into pieces. The melting of the polar ice cap is considered by many scientists to be the 'canary in the coal mine' regarding the rest of the planet. 2. The honey bee is disappearing. The cause? A combination of mites, disease, and colony collapse disorder, where bees abandon their hives. This particular bee pollinates major crops, and cannot be replaced by other types of bees. 3. The oceans of the world absorb large amounts of CO2, which helps cool the planet. But the extra carbon absorbed is increasing the acidity of the water, threatening sea life, in particular the smaller species that feed all the rest. 4. Mercury and lead pollution from industrial emissions, especially from coal burning, are making their way into our food chain and our bodies. That's a small sample of changes that are actually occurring on planet Earth. So, we can debate global warming and scoff at the science. But next summer, pray you're lucky enough to see a honey bee. And let's continue not abandon the fight to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
