CLIMATE CHANGE
Is climate change real? In my opinion it most definitely is. There are those who deny that it exists. To those people I would point out that the earth’s climate has been changing since the beginning of time and will continue to do so.
Are humans contributing to the escalation of that change? Again I believe we are. Mother Nature is capable of combating much of what we throw at her but we have polluted the air, water and the soil to the point where nature is having great difficulty keeping up.
We definitely need to do better and have greater respect for our planet but I don’t think there is a need to panic, just to be much better stewards of this third rock from the sun.
It is disturbing to me when I see people like Greta Thunberg making such a fuss. I respect their concern but I can’t help but think her and others are being manipulated by those who have a vested interest in getting the public overly worked up.
By all means we need to reduce our waste, on all fronts. We need to recycle and reuse as much as we can but maybe what we need to do is not produce so much waste material in the first place. We cannot continue to disrespect our environment.
There are extreme views on both sides of this issue. Those who think we are doomed and will all die in the very near future and those who stick their heads in the sand and pretend that there is no problem.
In Canada we have more than enough trees to consume the CO2 that we produce. However, CO2 knows no boundaries so we therefore have no control over what enters our space from other countries.
Our current government thinks the solution is to implement a carbon tax. Just how is paying more tax going to reduce the carbon output?
In the last election the Prime Minister used two airplanes for his campaign and claimed it was OK because he bought carbon credits to offset the output.
In my mind the two planes still produced the same amount of CO2 regardless. It makes no sense to me that someone producing carbon in excess of their “acceptable” limit can buy credits from someone who is below what is considered an acceptable limit. This doesn’t reduce the carbon; it just shifts it from one producer to another.
Maybe what needs to be done is reward those who reduce their output and penalize those who do not at least make a concerted effort to do so. Pavlov proved many years ago that positive reinforcement accomplishes more than negative reinforcement.
There is much that needs to be done and we all have a responsibility to do our part but I don’t believe adding more tax to an already overtaxed population will do anything to solve the problem.
Given the opportunity it is amazing how quickly nature can clean up the mess that humans make but if we are continually making a huge mess and growing that mess at a rate that nature cannot keep up we will eventually destroy ourselves.
Fossil fuels are a big contributor but we will not eliminate them overnight. Better ways are needed but it is important to thoroughly assess the consequences of what we try to replace them with and I believe there are processes that produce more CO2 than the burning of fossil fuels. Even the production of those fuels quite possibly produces less CO2 than the mining operations required to produce materials for electric vehicles.
There are those who think electric cars are the answer but once again, in order to produce the batteries for electric cars, extensive mining operations must be undertaken. What is the real carbon contribution to our environment? Also it would seem that little or no consideration is given to how the power is generated that is needed to continually recharge the EV batteries.
Once the huge and expensive batteries required for EVs have reached the end of their useful life they will need to be disposed of and so far there is no comprehensive plan for recycling or disposing of those batteries. The hazardous materials contained in those batteries will create yet another pollution problem that will need to be solved.
We have situations now where we have a shortage of electricity from time to time and I know of one case where Hydro Ontario has said they can’t provide power to service a proposed subdivision. How are they going to provide all the power that will be required once we get to the point where we have virtually everyone driving an EV? This doesn’t seem to me to be very well thought out.
We used to drive to Florida every winter and if we had to do that in an electric vehicle I imagine it would take much longer to make that trip. At least with a gas vehicle one needs to stop for a few minutes to refuel and be back on the road.
The range of most EVs is less than that of a gas powered vehicle and recharging takes considerably longer, meaning that it would probably take at least twice as long to make the trip from Ontario to Florida.
Wind turbines are not an answer either. The materials required for producing the components for wind turbines have to be mined and they contain hazardous materials for which there is no plan for recycling or disposal when those components reach the end of their useful life.
In addition the turbines cause great harm to birds and bats. Although they appear to be turning at a slow rate of speed, they are in fact moving very quickly. A simple calculation will prove that fact. Consider that the length of one blade on a wind turbine can be as much as 107 meters (351 feet). Those blades rotate 10 to 20 times per minute. This means the tip can be rotating at as much as 180 miles per hour.
Solar is another possible solution to power generation but the same facts apply as with wind. The materials to produce the solar panels must be mined and there is no plan to safely dispose of those materials once they have come to the end of their usefulness. In addition they can cover huge tracts of land, often good farm land, which is disappearing at an alarming rate as it is, due to the construction of new homes and subdivisions.
For sure mankind has to be more respectful of our environment if we are to survive as a species but a more sane way has to be found than the direction our government is taking us at the present time.
You are free to agree or disagree but for what it is worth that’s my view from the country.
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