The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6 THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006 EDITORIAL Distributed to every home in Acton and area as well as adjoining communities. 373 Queen Street East, Unit 1 Acton, Ontario L7J 2N2 email: thenewtanner@on.aibn.com Frances Niblock Mike OLeary Angela Tyler Janis Fread Rebecca Ring Publisher Editorial Ted Tyler Hartley Coles Editorial Contributors Advertising and Circulation Composing Marie Shadbolt Bruce Cargill Danielle McIsaac Janine Taylor By Angela Tyler with Hartley Coles (519) 853-0051 Fax: (519) 853-0052 Every effort will be made to see advertising copy, neatly presented, is correctly printed. The publisher assumes no financial responsibility for typographical errors or omissions in advertising, but will gladly reprint without charge that part of an advertisement in which an error may occur provided a claim is made within five days of publication. All articles, advertisements and graphic artwork appearing in The New Tanner is copyrighted. Any usage, reproduction or publication of these items, in whole or in part, without the express written consent of the publisher of The New Tanner is a copyright infringement and subject to legal action. Since this corner has unwittingly become embroiled in the contro- versy over global warming and climate changes its time the record was set straight. Of course, we have global warming and weve been having it for 22,000 years ever since the Pleistocene epoch, or Ice Age, when most of the northern hemisphere, including Canada, was covered with glaciers. Weve been warming up ever since. There is a lot of speculation about the reasons why the ice started to melt including such theories as dinosaur flatulence and rotting veg- etation which released greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and unfettered the suns influence. But all of that is for the scientists and climatologists to debate. Why are we now so concerned about global warming? Many scientists and climatologists contend that unlike a decade ago when it was only conjecture, climate change can now be seen by observing disappearing Arctic ice and permafrost, lethal storms and floods in Latin America and melting glaciers. The three warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998 and scientists theorize that Mother Earth has probably never warmed as fast as in the last 30 years. So why, are we suddenly seeing an acceleration of global warm- ing? According to scientists, people are causing the change by burning our stores of coal, oil and natural gas which releases tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year, although some maintain the changes may have actually started with the dawn of agriculture. This has all led to the greenhouse effect. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that traps the suns radiation within the lower atmosphere along with other man-made gases such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). If the current trends continue, scientists contend the concentration of CO2 will double in this century and raise global temperatures by around 2C to 5C causing the Greenland ice sheet and Antarctic glaciers to melt. In turn sea levels could rise to as much as six metres flooding land occupied by millions of people. Now, not all scientists and climatologists agree with the theories abounding around climate change. One veteran climatologist from Brit- ish Columbia, who appeared recently on a Hamilton television program gave it short shrift. He said that when he got into the climate science 30 years ago the popular theory was that the earth was retreating into another ice age. Now that theory is completely reversed. The popularity of global warming got a big boost in this neck of the woods when we experienced unusually warm weather in December and the early days of January. It would be more difficult to sell now were in the midst of a cold, bone-chilling winter. Even a global meeting of scientists recently could agree that it was only very likely we are experiencing global warmings dire effects. It left the door open for further speculation about its nature. As lay people we can only speculate on whether most scientists and climatologists are right. The evidence is there: there is climate change but its rate of occurrence is a matter of conjecture. Few, however, would disagree with the need to reduce emission reductions in industrial countries. Developing countries such as India and China are accusing the West of using global warming as a club to stop their industrialization and rising standards of living. And what the West does could be completely wiped out by the rapid industrialization in the East. Meanwhile, the United States, which rejected the Kyoto Protocol in 2005, says scientific uncertainty over the pace of climate change is grounds for delaying any action. Along with Australia, the U.S. wants clean fuel technologies as an alternative to emission cuts. Its a much more complicated issue than we can deal with in this space. Obviously theres going to have to be a political solution to global warming but first there has to be almost universal agreement that something must be done to avoid steep climate change. Theres expiry dates on everything It was like he was preparing for a natural disaster, or maybe we needed to build an ark and take on supplies in order to survive. I think its because he was brought up in the Depression. For some reason my dad always seems to buy more food and supplies than we need. We were in Florida at their condo and he had gone into the storage closet to retrieve some pop. When I saw what he was doing I started to almost scold him. Dont drink that, I told him. Its expired. He didnt know what I was talking about. I showed him the best-before date on the can of pop. I told you last time we were here it needed to be thrown outits no good. I was upset with him that he insisted on keeping the spoiled product. Its fine, he told me as he cracked open a can of diet ginger ale. As he poured the can out, something odd happened that proved my point. In the glass was the fluid. Unfortunately, the top was syrupy stuff and the bottom contained watery type fluid. The pop had separated. See, I told him, Its no good. He didnt believe me. You just have to shake the can itll be fine, he responded. After tasting it, he knew I was right. Before I knew it, we were in the storage closet and in the hallway checking canned goods. There was a procession of people. One would check the can and pass it along until it reached the garbage bag. Meanwhile the Dude was in charge of taking the bags to the trash shoot. He was doing pretty good until he reached his pre- cious Bush Beans. He loves those things. We probably have enough Bush Beans in the closet to feed the entire state of Florida. It didnt matter what the expiry date was, he wasnt throwing them out. My discovery and my dads learning curve inspired all of us. Everything has an expiry date or best before date when you think about it. A couple of days ago I called him up. How long is cooked ground beef good for? I asked. Two or three days maybe, he replied. So I guess if this is from Saturday I should get rid of it? I asked, as I sniffed the container. Say good-bye he told me. Last Saturday night it was time for him to return the ques- tion. You know how you said about how things have an expiry date he inquired. What do you think of this? He then rattled off some numbers that didnt really make sense. It was for a can of chick peas or tomatoes or something that he wanted to use for a pot of soup. He had only bought a case of them in the fall. I dont knowI think theyre expired. Why dont you Global warming? Continued on page 7 VIEW FROM TRILLIUM TERRACE: The hills on the west side of Acton comprise a barrier for water which flows from Fairy Lake along the Credit River system to its destination in Lake Ontario. On the other side of the picturesque hills known colloquially as The Breezes, water flows along the Blue Springs Creek to the Grand River on its way into Lake Erie. Residents along Trillium Terrace get a splendid view of the west side of Acton and a vista which stretches north into Erin.