Now that Doris W.E. has weighed in on the climate debate I'm not sure that anyone else's opinion matters, but here's my shot since the Gazette graciously lets everyone have a say here.
My feeling is the world is warming just as it has for 10,000 years. The science is not clear any other way. The science was clear and the majority believed that the Earth was the centre of everything at one time just a few hundred years ago – how did that turn out? It’s also clear that Edmonton was once a tropical oasis far before humans and then under a mile of ice.
I don’t deny that using carbon-based fuel to power our societies is not the cleanest way to go about things. But we have come a long ways since the 1800s. Cars are so much better now, even from 15 years ago and far less polluting thanks to human ingenuity with electronics (I just wish more people would idle less). Our buildings are far better along with the heating systems. A lot of power plants are natural gas fired, which is far cleaner than coal.
And now for the part that bugs me the most of all the people that take time to write to papers, travel to conferences, demonize the oilsands, and generally complain of how we humans are destroying the planet: what are you doing about it? Are you flying in from wherever to exotic locations to so-called climate conferences? Or are you living here, heating your residence with fossil fuels and using fuel to get around and do everything else? Do you live in a zero energy house? No? Then build one for goodness sakes you're ruining the environment.
Our very existence in Canada is based on reasonably priced power. What would you offer to get us off of the very thing you use as much as anyone else? There is no answer since there is no equal alternative, yet. Things are being developed but it will take time, maybe more than a century. Just like I tell my kids, you can’t have everything all at once. So instead of complaining, put your hard earned money, yes your money, or volunteering, into helping develop the green power you so desire.
Government subsidies are not the answer, if the technology cannot exist on its own, then too bad. Everyone wants the “government to do something.” How about you do something and not ask taxpayers to clear your conscience? There is simply not enough green energy to go around. And the only green energies really are wind or solar (in Alberta). Flooding great tracts of land or going nuclear is not green. Meanwhile I’ll conserve energy as I always have, maybe you should do the same, less talk more action.
Tony Gull, St. Albert
