Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Confronting Climate Change/Ignoring Climate Change

Dr. Blair Feltmate, the program director of sustainability practice at University of Waterloo, says Canada needs to be prepared for extreme rainfall, which will occur more frequently with accelerating climate change:

Meanwhile, over in Hamilton, city officials are partying as if it were still 1955. They are exultant over the fact that the Ontario Municipal Board has given the final go-ahead to reclassify hundreds of hectares of farmland around the airport for development — the largest urban boundary expansion in Hamilton's history.

The Ontario Municipal Board has agreed with the city's argument that 555 hectares of developable employment land is required for the so-called aerotropolis, dismissing appeals from Environment Hamilton and Hamiltonians for Progressive Development in a decision dated July 3.

The decision to destroy farmland that would undoubtedly be invaluable to our future food supply in favor of pavement that will be unable to help absorb runoff from the next '100-year-storm' once more amply attests to our species' extraordinary myopia.

6 comments:

  1. Calgary has been warned, Lorne. Toronto has been warned. But, as in the days of Noah, nobody is paying attention.

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    1. I guess human nature is pretty much a constant throughout time, Owen, something that often makes me sick at heart.

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  2. Joni Mitchell described the situation perfectly over forty years ago. We should have listened to our young troubadours more carefully.
    Maybe we should listen again.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu86OP-O3mY

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    1. There is a timeless truth in the song, isn't there, Anon?

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  3. Lorne, good post.

    The amount of rain Toronto and area are getting is incredible. I have never heard of it before. Same is happening in U.S. Given this erratic weather, there can't be a better evidence of global warming. Leaders around the world must wake up and do something to reduce the emission of Ho2. Otherwise we are headed for an incredible disaster of the planet earth.

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    1. Despite these undeniable warnings, LeDaro, very few, it seems, want to confront the truth, preferring instead to give credence to the charlatans who call climate change a hoax. I grow increasingly pessimistic over our future.

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