climate change

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Thursday, July 18, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, July 18, 2013

Eastern Canada swelters

Quebec health officials are investigating two deaths they say may be connected to the searing heat that has blanketed both Ontario and Quebec.

Richard Massé, the director of Montreal’s public health service, has confirmed that one person died Tuesday, but the person had other health problems and was in a private institution. Officials are unsure whether the death is linked to the heat.

Another death was reported Wednesday in Montreal, and officials are investigating it in connection with the soaring temperatures. Massé is urging people to look out for each other.

A severe thunderstorm left more than 9,000 households and businesses without power in Montreal. At least half of those have since been restored to power.

The temperature dropped 10 degrees in less than 45 minutes as the storm rolled into the city.
Residents prepared for possible flash flooding as Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Montreal on Wednesday afternoon.

In Ontario, Ottawa and Hamilton endured a heat wave Wednesday, as a third straight day of high temperatures baked parts of southern Quebec and Ontario.

“Humidex values in southern Ontario will be between 40 to 45,” said CBC meteorologist Jay Scotland, with Ottawa likely having its hottest day of the year — expected to hit the mid-40s.
“North and northeastern Ontario and southern Quebec could experience some severe thunderstorms late in the afternoon and evening.” (Source: CBC News)

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Saturday, February 2, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, February 2, 2013

Putting Climate Change in the Budget Now Will Save Lives and Money

The failure of world leaders to act on the critical issue of global warming is often blamed on economic considerations. Over and over, we hear politicians say they can’t spend our tax dollars on environmental protection when the economy is so fragile. Putting aside the absurdity of prioritizing a human-created and adaptable tool like the economy over caring for everything that allows us to survive and be healthy, let’s take a look at the economic reality.

A new scientific report concludes that climate change is already costing the world $1.2 trillion a year and is eating up 1.6 per cent of global GDP, and rising. It’s also killing at least 400,000 people every year, mainly in developing countries. That’s not counting the 4.5-million people a year who die from air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels.

As Michael Zammit Cutajar, former executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told the Guardian: “Climate change is not just a distant threat but a present danger — its economic impact is already with us.”

But we’re to believe that corporate profits, ever-increasing growth, consumer culture, disposable products and often meaningless jobs to keep it all going are more important than the health and survival of humans and other species, and true long-term economic prosperity.

The report, “Climate Vulnerability Monitor: A Guide to the Cold Calculus of a Hot Planet,” was compiled by 50 scientists, economists and experts for the Europe-based non-governmental organization DARA and 20 countries that joined to form the Climate Vulnerable Forum.

As stated in the preface, it “challenges a conventional view: that global action on climate change is a cost to society. Instead, it enlightens our understanding of how tackling climate change through coordinated efforts between nations would actually produce much-needed benefits for all.” (Source: Huffington Post)

Saturday November 3, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Saturday November 3, 2012

End of Daylight Saving Time fills insomniacs with dread

The end of Daylight Saving Time this weekend mostly brings an extra hour’s sleep to a sleep-deprived society — but actually hurts the people who need sleep most.

This is the night when people with insomnia suffer even more than usual, then have to listen to their friends and family talk about how refreshing it is to catch up on sleep.

This paradox comes from the fall ritual of turning back the clock one hour. At 2 a.m. Sunday we officially move back to 1 a.m., adding one hour to the night.

In effect, we create a single 25-hour day, to be balanced out by a 23-hour day next spring.

For a society that tends to stay up too late at night, this is a bonus: just this once you can fall asleep at midnight, get up at 7 a.m., and still get eight hours’ sleep.

But for an insomniac, it’s the same poor-quality sleep as usual, followed by a day with an extra hour of being awake. In addition, it upsets their “circadian rhythm,” the mental cycle of day and night that tends to operate poorly to begin with in people with insomnia.

“Where people are normally getting an extra hour of sleep or sleep opportunity, for someone with insomnia this could actually be worse,” says Dr. Elliott Lee, a sleep expert at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.  (Source: Ottawa Citizen)

 

June 28, 2008

Dalton McGuinty gave is full backing to Stephane Dion’s Green Shift policy the other day as he embarked on the summer recess from the Ontario legislature. McGuinty expressed his support despite the fact that he leads a province heavily reliant on manufacturing to drive the economy and provide jobs which will be subjected to a shift of billions in taxes on the carbon dioxide producing industries should Dion form the next federal government. Dion’s risk to himself and his party means McGuinty can endorse it and not do anything (as per usual as is the case with McGuinty’s dismal environmental record) until Dion surprises everyone and gets elected.

Of course McGuinty isn’t the first guy in charge of a government to be all talk and no action, and Dion isn’t the first guy wanting to lead a government with a lot of talk and the promise of action. Al Gore as we all know has been a tireless advocate of doing something about Climate Change, despite not doing much about it while in office or campaigning for President. Onetime environmental laggard Jean Chretien has always boasted about signing on to the Kyoto Accord despite conveniently ignoring the obligations. And Just recently the former British PM was pleading leaders of the G8 to bridge the chasm on climate change. So easy it is to talk the talk when out of office. But even while he was PM, Tony Blair spouted similar pleas promising to lower carbon dioxide emissions to 20% when in fact witnessing increases during his time in office.

So as Stephane Dion begins his gruelling coast to coast sale of the Liberal Party’s Green Shift carbon tax plan, Dalton McGuinty can relax and enjoy the summer months to come complaining about how the Harper government isn’t doing enough to stop climate change while feigning belief that Dion’s plan will be warmly endorsed by the Canadian public.

Wednesday December 19, 2007

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay,  The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 19, 2007

Coldest winter in years, Environment Canada warns

The weather phenomenon La Nina will bring Canada the coldest winter in nearly 15 years, Environment Canada warned Friday.

Environment Canada’s temperature forecast shows the majority of the country will experience a “temperature anomaly” of below-normal temperatures through the months of December, January and February.

Much of Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and parts of British Columbia and southern Ontario will also see above-normal precipitation.

David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada, told The Canadian Press that the temperature and precipitation abnormalities are likely the result of the weather phenomenon La Nina.

La Nina, meaning the little girl, is the appearance of cooler-than-normal waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.

“La Nina is thought to occur due to increases in the strength of the normal patterns of trade wind circulation,” Environment Canada’s website says.

“For reasons not yet fully understood, periodically these trade winds are strengthened, increasing the amount of cooler water.”

These cooler waters result in wetter-than-normal conditions in the northern hemisphere and changes to the jet stream over North America. (Source: CTV News)

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Look who’s strutting around and putting down successors and criticizing governments now debating and putting together new agreements on Climate Change and Global Warming… Jean Chretien. The former Prime Minister conveys how proud he is to call his signing on to the Kyoto Protocol as a defining chapter of his Legacy despite the lack of action which followed. It’s all in this article:

TORONTO – What was intended as a feel-good gathering of prominent Liberals celebrating the legacy of one of their most illustrious leaders took a divisive turn Tuesday as Jean Chretien again took aim at his successor Paul Martin’s track record as prime minister, this time for failing to meet Canada’s obligations to stop climate change. The duelling former prime ministers, whose bitter leadership rift seems to have spilled over into their retirement years, were among the Liberal heavyweights headlining the conference lauding Lester B. Pearson’s contributions to global peace, which earned him a Nobel Peace Prize 50 years ago. Chretien’s speech to the conference, hosted by Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae, included harsh words for the Conservatives’ stance on the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions. “I am not very pleased today to read what people are saying about Canada in Bali at this moment about the environment,” he told the conference. “I think it is an urgent problem and we should have been at the forefront. When we signed Kyoto, we knew very well when I was there what we were doing, and it should have been implemented. But now we will not meet the target because we lost four years.” But outside the hall, Chretien was quick to point the finger at Martin’s government for dropping the ball on Kyoto after he left office. “I don’t know what happened, I was not there,” he said. “I know that I was negotiating with the oil industry, and the oil industry pulled back from the table.” When asked why it took so long for Canada to get somewhere on Kyoto, Chretien replied, “Sometimes, when you lose four years, you lose four years. There’s nothing I can do about it.” But Chretien said he doesn’t blame current Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, who was environment minister under Martin, for the failure to meet Canada’s obligations under Kyoto, an international treaty that Chretien’s government signed 10 years ago. Dion had to cancel his scheduled appearance at the conference to attend an international climate change summit in Bali, Indonesia. Martin, who delivered his speech two hours after Chretien left the building, defended his record on climate change, saying his government’s policy was regarded as “the most comprehensive attack on climate change that we’ve ever seen in Canada.”

Ten years ago papers were hammering Jean Chretien for having contributed nothing to help solve environmental issues. Here’s an example:

Global warming: action or inertia?
Hamilton Spectator Editorial
October, 02 1997
 

Bill Clinton is demonstrating environmental leadership as he tries to rally American public opinion behind a global treaty cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The American president’s willingness to put his prestige on the line stands in contrast to the political inertia shown by the Chretien government on the problem so far. If the Liberals are to achieve their stated goals in reducing the pollutants that are believed to produce artificial global warming, they must give the problem a much higher profile. Clinton can’t be accused of sleepwalking on the difficult, but urgent, greenhouse gas issue. He raised the stakes yesterday by gathering 100 weather forecasters on the White House lawn in support of stronger action to reduce the buildup of fumes and smoke in the Earth’s fragile natural environment. Cynics dismissed the event as a public relations gimmick. But Clinton deserves marks for taking a stand that will almost certainly involve some lifestyle changes for American consumers and economic adjustment. The president faces stiff opposition from powerful politicians, industrialists and union leaders, who are reluctant to act even though the U.S. is a major polluter. America lags behind other countries in pledging itself to targets for carbon dioxide and other pollutants. The U.S. Senate has said it will reject specific greenhouse gas cuts unless they’re matched by targets for developing countries. The U.S. can do much better than that. So can Canada, which has the second-highest per capita greenhouse emission rate among industrialized countries. The Chretien government should be front and centre with a strategy in advance of international negotiations on a treaty in Japan in December. Instead, it’s making no visible attempt to focus attention on the problem, and how to implement realistic, achievable and cost-effective solutions. The government has relied on a voluntary emissions reduction program that hasn’t done the job. The outlook isn’t likely to improve if the debate, such as it is, is dominated by the likes of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein. He maintains that binding emission reduction targets will penalize his province unfairly. Klein appears to oppose even modest reductions. He should be more open to compromise. A failure by all industrial nations to take effective action now runs the major risk of precipitating an future environmental crisis that would require drastic economic and lifestyle changes. Critics of controls cite potential job losses in moving to a more sustainable economy, but they often overlook the potential employment from improving energy efficiency in offices and homes; developing super-efficient, environmentally-friendly cars and trucks; and investing in renewable energy projects. It’s time for the Chretien government to follow Clinton’s lead and come out of the closet with a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Few problems are as pressing as the need to better protect the planet from choking in man-made gases.

Chretien was in his fifth year of office as Prime Minister by time the above editorial was written. It was my first year as a cartoonist when I drew the (rather crude)cartoon below for the October 2, 1997 edition of the paper, for which I chose to draw on the environment, an issue that Chretien was completely unconcerned with at the time: