In 1098, the first Crusade captured Edessa and Antioch, as well as committing savage acts of butchery on non-combatants in Ma'arra. Since the ghosts of the first Crusade still haunt the Middle East, Western leaders may want to reconsider military action lest it be interpreted as the 900th anniversary celebrations of these events.
Sent: 12 February 1998. Unpublished.
In the run-up to the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change, and in its aftermath, the Globe and Mail took the editorial stand that one of the reasons that Canada could not be expected to use energy efficiently was because of its cold climate.
Well, it would appear that the native leaders of Ouje-Bougoumou have laid that myth to rest by developing a sawdust-fired district heating system (Compass, 26 February 1998). If, as the article suggests, the system is expanded to co-generate both electricity and district heating, the community will achieve energy self-sufficiency. Furthermore, by basing their energy system on a renewable energy source, the community is an example of how people can live sustainably.
In light of this demonstrated success in using energy efficiently in a northern climate, can we expect to see an editorial promoting energy efficiency and district heating?
Sent: 26 February 1998. Unpublished.
Once again, Canadians prove that you can't love your car and love the environment (Canadian gasoline found in fuel smog, 7 March 1998).
Sent: 11 March 1998. Unpublished.
On 23 March 1998, two letters appeared that referred to an article "Commuters maintain love affair with car", published 18 March 1998. A search of my copy of the 18 March 1998 edition of the Globe and Mail produced nothing. A visit to the Nova Scotia legislative library and their co-operation with the Ontario legislative library resulted in a fax of the article. The article appeared on a "Toronto" page.
If you're going to publish letters in the Yokel (sorry, "National") edition of your paper, at least have the decency to publish the article to which the letters refer.
Sent: 25 March 1998. Unpublished.
I was pleased to read that the federal NDP roundly condemned the federal government for not taking a tougher stand on India's nuclear tests (Recall not enough, NDP charges; 13 May 1998).
In light of these condemnations, can we expect the federal NDP to be taking a similar stand against the NDP government in Saskatchewan for permitting the mining of uranium?
Sent: 13 May 1998. Published.
The global campaign of climate-change disinformation by organizations such as the American Iron and Steel Institute, touted by newspapers such as the Globe and Mail, continues apace, as illustrated by William Thorsell's most recent piece on the "tentative science of global warming" (23 May). Peer-reviewed articles that appear in journals such as Nature and Science are repeatedly ignored or dismissed in favour of claims made by people with vested interests in maintaining our reliance on fossil fuels.
Sadly, there are many signs that this campaign will be successful. EU countries such as Finland, Austria, France, and Italy are now on record as wanting to renegotiate their Kyoto Protocol commitments. The chances of agreement in Buenos Aires this November and subsequent international ratification appears remote.
Well done lads -- but what if you're wrong?
Sent: 25 May 1998. Published.
Name: Son of TAGS
Abbreviation: SOT
How appropriate.
Sent: 19 June 1998. Unpublished.
I found a typo in the article "Swami and the Shyams" (27 June). The text "affluent Canadians" should be "effluent Canadians".
Sent: 29 JUne 1998. Unpublished.
It was a relief to read that much of the smog covering southern Ontario can be blamed upon the United States (Soupy mix, 14 July). For one ghastly moment I thought that Canadians would finally discover the need to act responsibly and lessen their reliance on light trucks and cars.
Sent: 16 July 1998. Unpublished.
Regarding the Nisga'a land settlement and the treatment of non-Nisga'a residents.
Although predicting the future is tricky business, I'd like to think that the Nisga'a won't give the non-Nisga'a blankets infected with smallpox, force non-Nisga'a children to attend residential schools where they will suffer unpardonable abuses, encourage the non-Nisga'a to seek refuge in substance abuse, or deny voting rights to the non-Nisga'a for 90 years after the conclusion of the land settlement.
Sent: 20 July 1998. Published.
In her article, Zippiest ride on two wheels (Cars and Toys, 21 August), Stephanie Nolen asks, "Too lazy for a bike, but a car is such a hassle -- what's a hip and mobile city dweller to do?"
Try walking.
Sent: 21 August 1998. Unpublished.
In his editorial, Preparing for a hotter planet (29 August), William Thorsell presents a simplistic analysis of the IPCC report `Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change', claiming that the "sketchy" report concentrates on mitigating the impact of global climate change, ignoring the potential of adapting to it. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Article 2 (Objective) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), signed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, reads as follows [1]:
"The ultimate objective of this Convention ... is to achieve ... stablization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner."
To meet this objective, IPCC Working Group II reviewed both the state of knowledge concerning the impacts of climate change and the technical and economic feasibility of potential adaptation and mitigation strategies. The resulting IPCC report [2], "Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change", consists of two major parts: Part II - Assessment of Impacts and Adaptation Options (489 pages) and Part III - Assessment of Mitigation Options (232 pages).
To say that the report downplays the importance of adaptation suggests that Mr. Thorsell has not read the report. For example, in Chapter 13, `Agriculture in a Changing Climate', the chapter's authors make the observation that "nearly all agriculatural impact studies conducted over the past 5 years have considered some technological options for adapting to climate change." The chapter lists seven of the most promising options that would allow agriculture to adapt to climate change, including changing sowing data, using different crops, enhancing irrigation systems, and improving short-term climate prediction.
The same chapter also lists the time required to implement major adaptation measures, ranging from 3-5 years (transportation systems) to 3-14 years (variety adoption) to 50-100 years (dams and irrigation).
In short, adaptation is possible, given sufficient time. However, Mr. Thorsell's call for another IPCC-type report is both dangerous and short-sighted, since it overlooks what has already been proposed and will result in postponing the inevitable. With neither mitigation nor adaptation strategies in place, we are drifting into uncharted waters.
References
Sent: 31 August 1998. Unpublished.
The editorial, Highway to NAFTA? (7 September), reminded me of what Adam Smith wrote in his "Lectures on Jurisprudence" (1762-63, vi. 128-9):
"The highroads may in one sense be said to bear more grass and corn than any other ground of equal bulk, as by facilitating carriage they cause all the other ground to be more improved and encourage cultivation, by which means a greater quantity of corn and grass is produced. But of themselves they produce nothing. Now if by any means you could contrive to employ less ground in them by straightening them or contracting their breadth without interrupting the communication, so as to be able to plow up 1/2 of them, you would have so much more ground in culture and consequently so much more would be produced."
Yes, we could follow the myopic advice of the Globe and Mail and expand the highway system at great expense to the taxpayer with the inevitable loss of more agricultural land. Or we could invest in the future and upgrade the existing rail freight system; if for no other reason, the land-use requirements of a railway are about one-tenth that of a highway.
Sent: 8 September 1998. Unpublished.
One of the principle objectives of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the stablization of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations "within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change."
The report that the 20 year decline of the gray-jay population in Algonquin Park may be due to climate change (Climate change may be destroying Ontario bird habitat, 28 September), suggests that 20 years is an insufficient time frame for some ecosystems to adapt naturally.
This being the case, one can only conclude that the do-nothing (sorry, adaptation) policy towards greenhouse gas emissions advocated by many organizations (including the Globe and Mail) will inevitably lead to further species decline and loss. Although the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions through regulated means may be unpalatable, it is the only way we can be held responsibile for our actions and protect the environment.
Sent: 28 September 1998. Published.
re: Canada's squalid secret: Life on native reserves (12 October)
Other than the availability of alcohol, gasoline, solvents, and drugs, things don't appear to have changed much over the past 131 years.
Sent: 13 October 1998. Unpublished.
On 12 October, the Globe and Mail published an article describing the intolerable living conditions of some half-million native Canadians (Canada's squalid secret: life on native reserves). Since then, two letters have appeared on the subject. However, during this same period, numerous letters and articles have been published on RCMP actions at the 1997 APEC conference and the need for stronger anti-hate laws after the murder of a young homosexual in Wyoming.
This silence on matters pertaining to our First Nation peoples brings to mind two questions. Would there have been a national outcry if a group of native protesters been pepper-sprayed by the RCMP? Would there have been demands for anti-hate laws if a bunch of "red-necks" had crucified a young native?
Sent: 23 October 1998. Unpublished.
Ontario Hydro's nuclear generating system is worth "very close to zero" (Ontario Hydro carrying massive debt, 27 October).
Whatever happened to "too cheap to meter"?
Sent: 27 October 1998. Published.
re: Canada takes stand at global-warming summit (5 November 1998)
Part of the proposed emissions trading scheme being discussed in Buenos Aires involves the sequestration of carbon dioxide by reforestation and afforestation projects. These projects are to be implemented in countries with lower per capita greenhouse gas emissions (typically developing ones) and paid for by individuals, companies, or governments in countries with high per capita emissions (including Canada, the EU, and the United States).
Although this will probably be touted as a `win-win' approach to solving the problem of climate change (we get to continue our lifestyle while they get paid to watch the trees grow), it may well prove to be a tenuous solution at best.
First, it is unclear who or what will be responsible for the future growth in greenhouse emissions from countries with sequestration forests. Second, carbon dioxide sequestration is greatest while trees are young, once mature, the rate decreases, and as a result, these forests will have to be logged and replanted at regular intervals; the felled trees and their residue cannot be combusted as this will add to the planet's carbon dioxide levels. Third, forests can be destroyed by disease, fire, or storm, an uncontrolled means whereby the sequestered carbon is re-released to the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gas emission reductions through carbon sequestration is yet another example of bureaucratic and corporate greenwash -- it looks and feels good, but avoids the whole issue of responsibility.
Sent: 9 November 1998. Unpublished.
Your editorial 'Hot air in Buenos Aires' (16 November), ends with the question: "When will we starting figuring out how to adjust to a warmer planet?"
Ask the people of Honduras and Nicaragua.
Sent: 17 November 1998. Published.