Global warming

Ice streams are moving huge amounts of ice into the oceans from the centre of Antarctica-a continent three-quarters as large as North America.

by Bruce Torrie

The possibility of a substantial sea level change was made all too clear in a recent article in Climate Alert, the newsletter of the prestigious Climate Institute of Washington, DC. In that publication, researchers examined the potential for a breakup of the already two-thirds-collapsed west side of Antarctica, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), and the chance of a six-metre increase in the global sea level.

A report presents 17 steps (most of them no-brainers) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors of the economy, in a program that will help Canada meet its international commitments.

Canada can meet its commitments under the Kyoto protocol, ac-cording to the recently published Canadian Solutions, a 17-step action plan for federal and provincial governments. This 100-page report presents a mix of fiscal, regulatory and voluntary initiatives that can be implemented immediately to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors of the economy through the use of currently available technologies.

What's Going On Up There? and What's It Doing Down Here?

Air pollution is one of those complicated subjects where each factor is related to the other in a busy interdependent cycle of air pollution, atmospheric change, and natural balances.

"There isn't one solution to Global Climate Change ... there are 101 solutions,"
according to authors Guy Dauncey and Patrick Mazza

Reading Stormy Weather is an inspiring and invigorating experience that we wanted to share with our readers in the excerpts that follow. In dozens of short segments, the authors outline practical and do-able steps for changing from a fossil fuel economy to new technologies -- solutions for citizens organizations, governments from town to federal, businesses and organisations, energy and automobile companies, and, of course, for individuals.

So far the climate change models omit the effects of trees and plankton.

by Bruce Torrie

As we enter 2002, let's examine our understanding of the science and politics of climate change. In November 1989, Dr. Gordon McBean, then a UBC geography professor and a lead author of the first report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), was giving a speech at the Vancouver Court House just prior to the release of the 1st IPCC Scientific Assessment.

Extracted from Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Climate Change
by Guy Dauncey and Patrick Mazza
New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, 2001, ISBN 0-86571-421-5

The greenhouse effect is not a static process. It only seems that way because the past 10,000 years have been so stable. But this is not the way the world's climate works. If you think the enhanced greenhouse effect is troublesome, wait until the runaway greenhouse effect kicks in. As the saying goes, "You ain't seen nothin' yet."

Both the Pacific Coast and the South BC Mountain regions received more than 30% less moisture than normal. And when it did rain in those regions, in some cases higher than average amounts, it came all at one time which is hardly the type of precipitation beneficial to growing crops. As the climate changes so should your plans in the garden.

by Len Fraser

Once winter is upon us it can be difficult to make good, conscious plans to change our gardens for next year's growing season. Even if we winter garden, we must plan carefully now, not just where to plant our crops, but also which varieties will do best in increasing summer heat and longer growing seasons.

Some startling new developments into what disasters await Canada if it ratifies the Kyoto Protocol, as Prime Minister Jean Chretien has promised.

by Linwood Barclay

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein released a new, hard-hitting report this week that suggests the number of jobs lost through implementing the Kyoto accord may be higher than originally thought. Said Klein, "At first we thought it was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 100,000 jobs, then 250,000 jobs, then a million, but now our studies indicate that the number is somewhere in the area of a jillion and a half."

by Pablo Salon

Diplomacy is traditionally a game of alliance and compromise. Yet, in the early hours of Saturday, 11 Decem­ber, Bolivia found itself alone against the world, the only nation to oppose the outcome of the United Nations cli­mate change summit in Cancun. We were accused of being obstructionist, obstinate and unrealistic. Yet, in truth we did not feel alone, nor are we of­fended by the attacks. Instead, we feel an enormous obligation to set aside diplomacy and tell the truth.

by G.E. Mortimore

Mainstream climate scientists agree (with some exceptions and quibbles) that Earth's climate is changing, that humans are helping turn up the heat, and that the changes may cause serious damage.

In view of this often-repeated consensus, which has become a boring truism, why do political/economic leaders of industrial countries fall short of effective action to reduce the danger? The authors of Ice Chronicles do not frame the question in such stark terms; they lean over backwards to be cautious and