Who is Responsible?

 

Since the Globe and Mail would not publish my letter on this subject, I guess I’ll have to paraphrase it on this platform.

People are looking for a saviour to combat climate change.  Governments are the usual target for this role.  No doubt governments can do some things such as carbon taxes, and incentives for fossil fuel saving things like heat pumps and electric cars.  Both approaches have been used by Canadian governments, federal and provincial.  Provincial jurisdictions effect only one province at a time, and some provinces are against measures to reduce fossil fuel usage.  But it cannot legislate peoples’ attitudes.  It cannot, for example, prevent you from attending a protest about the need for government action on climate change in your V8 powered SUV or pickup truck. 

Industries, particular the oil industry, are often chosen as the ones who must take action. But they will not as long as the demand is there and there are profits to be made.

The truth is the only entities that can really make a difference are individuals.  Each individual must take responsibility for their own actions and decisions when it comes to using less fossil fuel use and taking climate change action.  Do you really need that gas powered SUV, or can you switch to an electric vehicle?  Even my switch to a hybrid has reduced my gas consumption in half for the same type of vehicle.  In many places, there are grants for heat pumps.  That change has reduced my utility costs considerably.  Do I hold myself as some sort of ideal for climate action? Of course not, I still use fossil fuels.  But if we all tried, think of the difference we could make.  Some would say that there is a lot of electricity produced from fossil fuel; coal, diesel fuel, natural gas. But there are many options for producing sustainable electricity in other ways; hydro, wind and solar are available and growing. Even nuclear power, despite it’s down sides, are an option  We just have to make the demand and suppliers will undoubtedly comply. 

Will it be easy?  Probably not.  Is it necessary? Of course, it is.  Do we want to leave a dying planet for future generations?  Some with me first, short term interests probably don’t care.  But I think the vast majority of us do care.  So, look to yourself as the answer, not to governments or industry.  They will do what individuals demand.

Later Summer Reflections

 

Summer

Did you realize that summer in Canada last only 2 months and a few days. In the US it is 3 days shorter. Summer, according to our custom lasts from Canada Day, July 1st (Independence Day, July 4th in the US) until Labour Day.  Today, the day after Labour Day is considered to be fall.  The kids are back in school.  Summer vacations are over.  Summer sports for kids are finished.  Prices at hotels and resorts begin to drop.  Summer is over, period.  The fact that the celestial calendar says that we have almost 3 more weeks of summer as well as 9 days in June means nothing to out society.  The fact that beautiful summer weather persists during these additional days is not acknowledged.  The fact that vacations by those who have no children can be really enjoyable in June, September and even October is forgotten.  Summer is over today.  Goodbye.

Greenbelts

This is a concern for those living in Ontario and a warning to those who live elsewhere.

Greenbelts are wonderful places around cities.  Used right they provide a natural barrier to urban sprawl.  They provide an area of natural beauty and needed farmland within reach of city dwellers.  They improve the environment.  They are a place to preserve.  Many cities in Ontario have them.  In Ottawa, where I once lived, there seemed to be constant fights over whether to breach the greenbelt for development or to preserve it.  Now, the Ontario government is doing it to an area of prime farmland east of the city of Toronto.  They promise to replace the lost area with other areas.  But these other areas are of lesser quality for farming.  If this was the worst part, it would be bad enough.  But now it comes to light that there appears to have been some inside knowledge and under the table dealings with a few favoured developers who owned the chosen lands. Greenbelts should be there for the benefit of the public, not the politicians.  This issue should and I hope it will be dealt with in courts of law.

“Behind every great fortune there is a crime.”
  - Honore de Balzac

“You will find that the State (Province) is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.”
  - John Kenneth Galbraith

Skeptics

Surely this summer will challenge climate change skeptics to rethink their skepticism.  The proliferation of forest fires and in many places, unusual weather has been challenging for everyone.  Forest fires in places like Nova Scotia (too close to an urban center for some) plus the severity of the fires in more usual places like Alberta and British Columbia and even the North West Territory have been devastating.  Is this the conditions we want to see in the future?

“Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.”

  - Kin Hubbard

The Night Terrors

 

It’s three o’clock in the morning.  You seem to have been having a good sleep.  And then they arrive.  You are in terror, not with ghosts and monster of your youth.  You fear for yourself. Something terrible is going to happen to you . . . soon. You’re going to be in a car wreck today.  Your boss is going to find out about your daily struggles and fire you.  Your wife is going to die suddenly.  No, you’re going to die a slow painful death.  Your paranoia knows no bounds.  And this has happened before.  In fact, it happens almost every night.  You never get back to sleep.

Welcome to one of the worst things that manifest themselves as you battle clinical depression.  The paranoia of the night is what your therapist calls the night terrors.  Is there no cure for it?

You get up that morning tired and confused.  Is last night’s terror going to come true?  Is something else bad going to happen? You go off to work for another day of struggles.  You manage to make it through the day but dread coming home for another evening of dark thoughts and another night of the terrors.  Your wife, who first noticed your deterioration and got you to your doctor, once again asks if there is anything that can be done. Is there is anyone else you can see? Each week you survive the five days of work, but on Saturday, you just cannot hold yourself together anymore. You are fed up, dissatisfied with everything, and start arguments about any little thing, real or perceived. Your wife and family try to calm you down and avoid annoying you.  But it is becoming a struggle for them too. Your wife is showing signs of anxiety. Your kids avoid you as much as possible.  But that’s their problem, not yours. 

Your family doctor listened to you and your wife and told you that he thought you were depressed.  He referred you to a psychiatrist. You have consulted with the psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist. They are still trying to help.  Your psychologist listens to you and assures you that he fully understands your feelings and tries to instill ideas on how to improve your sleep and your behavior.  Your psychiatrist has prescribed drugs to address you condition, several drugs over the past few years.  Some don’t help at all.  Some help for a while and then something will change, and they are no longer effective.  So, you keep going through the worst six weeks again. For three weeks you have to stop taking you last medication and quickly sink back into the depths.  Your new prescription then starts and take another two to three weeks to become fully effective.  Your hope rises that this is the one.  It seems to be the one for a matter of weeks or even months, then it too fails.  You threaten to quit all medication and then you really sink back to the depths.  This goes on for about ten years.  At least a couple of tries each year.  You’re discouraged which adds to the toll of depression. 

Reason and the pleading from your wife finally convince you to give it one more try.  You have no reason to believe that this will be any different from previous tries.  Your psychiatrist now wants you to try a combination.  The two drugs look familiar.  You have taken both of them each previously.  Neither seemed to work by itself.  Will the combination be any better?  But you get them and start on them.  You start to fell better.  Will it last? As the weeks and months go by, they continue to work.  You feel better. More optimistic.  This turns out to be the answer to all of your prayers for the past many years of disappointment and anguish.  There is now no way you are ever going to let these wonder drugs go.  You feel normal again.  No more night terrors.