More than 500 university faculty members from universities all over Canada have signed a letter to the Canadian Government calling for immediate and drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The letter points out that the time frame of reductions is critical, dictated by earth’s physical environment and not by political or short-term economic considerations. The scale is global: climate knows no boundaries; Canada’s emissions harm people everywhere.

Although the danger has been recognized for decades, governments’ reaction has been inadequate. Dr. Chandler Davis, an emeritus professor of mathematics, points out that the uncertainties in the scientists’ predictions were no excuse for inaction. As it turned out, emissions have been increasing rather than decreasing, and the effects of climate change exceed the worst-case predictions of a few years ago. Societies now face threats of unprecedented severity due to climate change, as detailed in the letter: unprecedented droughts, melting of mountain glaciers vital to major rivers, rising sea levels that threaten island nations and the deltas in Bangladesh and Egypt, and much more. Climate change and other contributing human activities are now causing species extinction at about a thousand times the natural rate.

The letter reviews recent data showing an added imminent danger of a qualitative alteration of climate. Higher than expected warming of the Arctic now leads to melting of the ice cap whose reflectivity cuts Earth’s absorption of solar radiation, and to melting of permafrost that risks venting significant amounts of the potent greenhouse gas methane. These changes would aggravate the greenhouse warming seriously and are not reversible in human time scale. The letter reviews paleoclimate results to calibrate the task. The last time the world was 1oC warmer than pre-industrial levels for an extended period, sea level was likely five meters higher than today. Expert opinion is cited for the view that, to be safe from such a catastrophe, atmospheric CO2 must be held to 350 parts per million — a level which has already been surpassed!

The statement therefore calls for a precise timetable taking Canada to zero fossil fuel emissions in the near future. This means setting a time-profile of maximum allowable emissions, falling quickly to zero. The limits need to be absolute and not subject to trade-offs of any kind. This will inevitably mean winding down the tar sands project, and sizeable reductions of the military. It will require deep readjustment of society. Canada has shown in the past that it is capable of quick response to emergencies, and this is an emergency.

The full text of the Open Letter with all the signatories is available at Sources http://www.sources.com/Relea ses/NR695.htm and on the Science for Peace website at http://www.scienceforpeace.c a/open-letter-on-climatechange to-the-government-ofcanada

Dr. Helmut Burkhardt,

Professor of Physics Emeritus, Ryerson University,

Science for Peace Board

member

Dr. Chandler Davis,

Professor Emeritus,

University of Toronto, Treasurer of Science for

Peace

www.scienceforpeace.ca

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The gabfest in Copenhagen is winding down and billions of much needed currency is being promised to the emerging industrial nations. But no oversight mechanism has been agreed to by either the givers or the takers.

If this round of give-away billions to the emerging nations actually occurs we had best remember where the money provided in the past disappeared to and who the culprits were who diverted it to Swiss accounts.

How the USA can offer to fund these emerging nations when she herself is in one hell of a financial mess and unemployment is at a staggering level. Surely it would be wise to get her affairs in some semblance of order before funding others.

This gathering of privilege seekers were expected to resolve the climate change issue driven, to a degree, by Al Gore’s body of work, “An Inconvenient Truth{“, for which he received the Nobel prize.

That work states that the melting of the Arctic icecap will result in a nine meter rise in the oceans, inundating many island nations and creating serious devastation for many communities close to the oceans’ shores.

Surely, if I recall correctly, when water freezes, it expands and when it melts it returns to its original volume. That being correct, one asks, where does the additional water come from?

It has also been reported that the Arctic icecap is reforming at this time and the only four percent of the world’s ice is found in the Arctic and three percent in Greenland, the remaining 93 % is in Antarctica where no melting has been reported.

The conclusion must be that the rise in sea levels is due to something else, possibly Tsunami action or some external phenomenon. Climate has changed numerous times over time and the evidence is common knowledge.

Much of the hysterical response to Global Warming and Climate Change has been attributed to the increase in CO2 gas and other greenhouse gases. CO2 is the primary building block for about 67% of our planet’s plant life and trees absorb that gas and exude OXYGEN, essential to human existence and animal life.

That many of the greenhouse gases should be eradicated is indisputable if we are to remain reasonably healthy and our priority should be the search for energy sources that are non- polluting reasonably priced and widely available. That is where our national wealth should be directed and that is where the problem of pollution will be found.

Ken Hayward

Mono