Jim
Thanks for your comments.
I agree we lived our youth in a blessed time.
We strived to give our children even more than we had but I think that
philosophy took away some initiative. We ended up teaching dependence
instead of independence. The generations went from being accountable for
their actions to blaming others for whatever happens.
Now, a couple of generations down the road, we have chaos. Significant
wars, homelessness not seen since the 1930's, drug abuse and a generation (
with certainly some great exceptions) that expect the government to give
them everything.
Remember when you walked to school by yourself. Today's world would now
label you for child abuse if you let your child expercise independence. .
I believe that when you give someone something you take away their
initiative and pride of ownership they get in striving for something.
The difference between socialism and capitalism.
We are still so fortunate to live in Canada.
This last crisis of COVID has taken a lot of the middle class out of the
economic system. Many lost their life savings though small businesses that
failed and the government became the safety net. The net result is a
national debt we will likely never recover from. We will become more
dependent on the government handout. The attitude is "They" should fix it.
Wynn
On Sun, Nov 6, 2022 at 12:22 PM Jim Mann <jimmann@xxxxxxx> wrote:
It has been very interesting reading the comments on climate change,
causes and actions we can take but I have difficulty in isolating climate
change from all the other things that are going on in the world and our
country at present. First of all, I believe that we are one of the most
blessed generations of all time. For the most part, we came into the world
after the end of World War II and have not experienced “global crises”
really until these very early impacts of climate change and the global
pandemic of covid. I think we shall escape the major impacts of these
phenomena including environmental impacts, socio-economic impacts and
lifestyle impacts only because we will reach the end of our life cycle
before experiencing the most dire of their evolution and their consequences.
As we near the end of our lives, we are witnessing catastrophes such as
the war in Ukraine where the rest of the world is either unwilling or
unable to stop Putin and Russia from the inhumane devastation of another
country and the United Nations is proving to be a joke with Russia having
veto power over any consequential resolutions. The threats from powerful
nations such as Russia, China and North Korea will not diminish. There may
be “deferral actions” such as the sanctions that are being implemented to
defer the outcomes but there is no solution.
We are witnessing the beginning of an increasing number of climate events
that are beginning to have an impact on our daily lives. It will not
improve in our lifetime and there is likely not even a long term solution.
I think with the number of trees that we have in Canada consuming carbon
dioxide, that we are likely already carbon neutral and, in any event,
without China and India leading the “green charge”, any actions by
Canadians can only serve to “ease our conscience” and have zero impact on
the global climate change phenomena. Much like with the covid pandemic
where we focused 100% on prevention and 0% on treatment, we are focusing
Canadian efforts with the wrong focus. We can’t stop it so prepare to deal
with the consequences as best we can.
We are witnessing something in Canada referred to as reconciliation. This
is a never-ending discourse with no actual conclusion. We cannot change
history nor the consequences of colonization. We cannot solve a problem by
vilifying Sir John A. Macdonald and tearing down statues. We cannot reach
a conclusion where there is no benefit to the aggrieved party in ever
saying “enough – we are satisfied”. While wrongs were certainly done and
ill-conceived but well intended strategies were poorly executed, there is
no way to make up for the consequences.
We are witnessing a world and a nation where we can no longer trust the
media – either mainstream or the ever-increasing number of bloggers,
webcasters and other print or airwave sources. The only reliable source of
“the truth” is what we actually witness ourselves. The next time you
listen to what purports to be a newscast, ask yourself why that particular
story was presented and listen to hear the opinion components instead of
pure factual reports. Even where it is factual, why is only that side of
the story being presented. Watch how statistics are given to support a
particular position but that mislead in regard to the overall picture. The
CBC in “reporting” on the current inquiry into the government invocation of
the emergency act spends 30% of the time telling us what the witnesses are
going to say, 10% of the time allowing us to see selected live evidence and
60% of the time telling us what they thought the witness said and what it
meant and what their opinions are of the witness and the evidence (see how
statistics can be used to sound factual). While I used to be a supporter
of the CBC because they brought news and entertainment to areas of Canada
that could not be reached by other media and broadcasters, I no longer am a
supporter as they are biased, often incorrect and have an agenda that I do
not understand. We no longer have reporters, we have “news commentators”.
Where are the people like Lloyd Robertson, Knowlton Nash and Peter
Mansbridge? Thank you Rex Murphy! Or am I just being naïve.
We are witnessing a world and a nation where “governments” are
increasingly abusing their power for their own political and personal
agendas - most recently the Ontario and Quebec governments use of the
“notwithstanding” clause to violate the constitutional rights of Canadian
citizens and the federal governments invocation of the Emergencies Act
during the protest in Ottawa. One can argue that the ban on handgun
ownership in Canada is also an over-reach of authority – the major
consequence of which will NOT be a reduction in crime but an increase in
the “freedom movement” and protests by citizens.
And we are witnessing the rise of the “freedom movement” where coups
attempts such as the January 6th storming of the Capitol and the “Freedom
Convoy” all across Canada will continue to grow and become increasingly
violent. The multiple convoys making up the “Freedom Convoy” and the
fringe movements that joined it was the “polite” Canadian version of the
storming of the Capitol in the United States. These resulted from
government abuse of power, biased media, an inability to get accurate
sources of factual information, and much of that is related to climate
change and the pandemic. Many of those Canadian “demonstrators” are our
friends and neighbours concerned about their lives and livelihood and we
cannot and should not dismiss them as “nut cases”.
So yes, I have switched my horse trailer which I pull with a big diesel
truck over to LCD lighting (as I have much of my home) and I set my
thermostat a few degrees cooler and I do not air condition my home and I
dutifully sort my items into green bins of yard and compostable waste and
blue bins of recyclables and grey bins of the rest. But most of all I am
thankful for belonging to the generation that I belong to; the generation
that really lived through the best of times and ultimately benefited from
the challenges our ancestors faced and overcame and the generation that
will not face the worst consequences of the incredible debts our
governments have incurred and the pollution we have created.
YITBOS my brothers – we have had one hell of a ride!!
*From:* dsp-ea-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <
dsp-ea-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> *On Behalf Of *Wynn Payne
*Sent:* November 4, 2022 2:05 PM
*To:* dsp-ea-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* Re: Natural verses anthropogenic climate change
Hi Bryan
Thanks for the detailed explanation. This makes sense to me.
As a second layer of the problem how much does Canada contribute to the
problem in relation to the whole world? My understand is that China and
India combined represent maybe 85% of the problem and that Canada is maybe
1%. Are those good estimates?
If we are at say 3 % how much change do we have to do a less significant
contributor for the problem? ie we are making our standard of living more
expensive while not being a significant contributor. Unless we can get
China and India on side our efforts have little effect while economically
they manufacturer without the costs of reducing carbon contribution.
This last summer there was an initiative to reduce fertilizer use in grain
production. That seemed to be counter productive to supplying the world
what it needs to survive.
To all, keep the comments coming while remaining courteous.
Thanks
Wynn
On Fri, Nov 4, 2022 at 2:52 PM R Bryan Waller <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Over the millennia earth has been subject to variable climate change
indépendant of the actions of mankind.There have been at least 5 distinct
ice ages in the past 650,000 years.These changes are due to a number of
factors including the tilt of earth orbit,warming and cooling of the
oceans,volcanic activity and variability of energy output by the sun.It is
possible to chart these changes through the examination of ice cores from
the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps.In support of those who believe the
changes we are seeing are due to natural causes we are at a point in the
epoch where we are emerging from the most recent ice age and there is a
natural warming trend.
Having said that these natural trends are measured in tens of thousands of
years.Our current
accelerated warming trend has occurred in the last 250 years ,a mere thane
blink of an eye in time.It coïncides with the industrial revolution and the
burning of fossil fuels and explosive population growth.
Earths temperature has increased 5 degrees since the latest ice age more
than 10,000 years ago which averages out to .05 degrees every 100
years.Over the last 100 years the mean temperature of earth has increased
1.4 degrees.The world is heating up exponentially faster than ever
before.That is an undeniable fact.Of course the warming is not a constant
throughout the globe.Some areas may be cooler than in the previous years.It
is the planet as a whole that is warming at a far greater rate than ever
seen in the determinable record.
The reason is the increase in the so called greenhouse gases.The chief of
these is carbon dioxide but also include other gases such as methane and
nitrous oxide.They are called greenhouse gases because of particular
qualities.They transmit light but absorb and radiate infra red light.The
world would be uninhabitable if we did not have greenhouse gases because of
their role in warming the planet.
By the examination of air bubbles cast in ice cores scientists have
determined over the course of discernable history thé concentration of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has varied from 180 to 300 parts per
million .Modern levels are at more than 400 parts per million and
increasing rapidly.There is no question for the most part these emissions
come from the burning of fossil fuels.Scientist are able to differentiate
fossil fuel carbon dioxide from naturally occurring carbon dioxide.Other
greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide which have an even
greater warming effect are also increasing.Methane comes from rotting
garbage and belching cows and nitrous oxide from the use of nitrogen
fertilizers.
The evidence is overwhelming and is found in the rapidity of these events
far exceeding any natural discernable natural occurrences.There are charts
and scientific literature than explains it far better than I can but here
are the bare bones of the argument.As I have said this is an accepted
conclusion from the vast majority of climate scientists.There may be the
odd outlier but I have never seen one with any credibility.The earth has
been able to adapt to changes over the millennia but can it adapt to
dramatic change over centuries? We humans are ingenious creatures and
perhaps we will adapt ….or perhaps not.Bryan
Sent from my iPad
