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[countryguy]

Deb its minus 30 C wheres that global warming and all the melted ice at again.

And the rain came and the sunshone and everyone rejoiced. CO2 made the grass green also.

[ianben]

I think I 'm with the Kernal on this one.
How do people know what is happening weatherwise. It has never been predictable in fact one report I read stated that todays weather is unusual for its small fluctuations in temp etc.
Ice cores showed that over millenia temps had varied greatly year on year even during ice ages and warmer periods.
How do people think they know the correct diversity of plants/animals based on personal memory.
How far back do we go?
Do you want the plains and the buffalo back?
I havent seen a dinasoaror lately but I understand you had plenty once.
Is this evolution?
Someone famous once said "The only certainty is change".
Darwin I believe said "It is not necessarilly the largest loudest or the ones with the biggest teeth who survive but the ones who adapt to change."
We should all do our bit for the enviroment but I dont think we can achieve much or influence things long term one iota.

[Deb]

Weather is short term (a cold winter day here and there, like the old days.) Climate is longterm trends.

We know the atmospheric carbon dioxide level has risen steadily since the beginning of the industrial age. We know there has been a simultaneous rise in global temperature. (Find a copy of "The Next One Hundred Years" by Jonathan Weiner.)

We know that drought is bad for us here in the Palliser Triangle. To continue down this path, adding more and more greenhouse gas, is not going to make the situation better. Cutting down all the carbon-storing trees is dumb too, as is increasing fossil fuel use. We're just asking for it.

If you were suspicious that you were coming down with a cold, would you go out in cold air without a coat? No, you would use your common sense and follow the precautionary principle and dress warmly and put on a hat too. If we think we are at fault for warming the globe, should we maintain the status quo? No, we should do things to reduce our greenhouse gas output.

The real reason people don't want to drive smaller cars or conserve energy is because North Americans especially, are spoiled and lazy and are addicted to convenience.

[nakodo]

I think the real reason is the price of fuel is too low, raise the price of fuel and car size decreases gradually, lower it and cars increase in size. Tax the bejeebers out of it and they may even car pool, but then farmers maybe dont want to get rid of the big 3/4 tonne 4X4 supercab they drive to town on saturday night either :-)

[Deb]

That could be true. The rich could afford to drive anywhere anyway, the poor, like my friend Sue, would be in a pickle if driving their car was the only way to get from Lethbridge to Taber to work at the sugar factory or potato processing factory. She can hardly afford to feed her children. Those people I feel sorry for if the price of gas goes up. I think the passenger/commuter train should come back and there should be a train going to and from Lethbridge and Medicine Hat several times a day. Mass transit would sure help the dozens (hundreds?) of people like Sue.

Also there's the issue of people who live in "bedroom" communites who go to the city to shop instead of supporting their local stores and letting money circulate in the community. If we all supported our local communities and shopped there, we'd burn less fuels driving elsewhere for groceries.

[nakodo]

I forget the cost to pay for a rail line in passenger "seats" the number of times a person sits on the seat per day, it is in the thousands though not hundreds per day. Some small Mb communities run buses to the next towns (minivans actually). They quite often avoid going to the larger cities though as the small town shoppers load up into the tax base supported bus and head off the the city to shop.... ahh the persnikedyness of the rural consumer.