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WPATBY GE PRESSI WEDNESDAY, JY 6, 1988, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN m FUTURE SHOCK When all else fails talk about the weather - the universal topic, an innocuos ice-breaker that everybody can relate too - never controversial. Not for long! The weather may become the next decade's most important global political issue. The weathe-, as the international conference on the atmosphere held in Toronto last week pointed out, is no longer something we can conveniently blame on external forces. Although we can't control it, the way we run our industries, our transportation and our personal life-styles affect it profoundly and perhaps irreversibly. We were warned last week that unless we cut our use of fossil fuels (oil, gas & coal) to a mere fraction of our current use, we face an irreversible (perhaps already stàrted) warming trend -alled the greenhouse effect. The tropics will become unbearably hot, our agricultural zones will shift northward, deserts will become larger, the polar ice caps will begin melting raising the level of the oceans and causing widespread flooding - not a pretty picture. In addition the manufacture and use of fluoro-chloro carbons as aerosol propellants is depleting the ozone layer leaving us increasingly exposed to harmful solar rays. No more sunning on the beach! Add to these the on-going environmental concerns of acid rain, lead emissions, dioxins, and radiation and the world is a pretty sad place to be living and bringing up children. The scientists at last week's meeting made the very apt comparison that the damage we are doing to our atmosphere is at least as likely to destroy our civilization as nuclear war. Given the dismal record of our world leaders at dealing with other world problems, the prospects do not seem bright. Just look at Canada's unsuccessful attempts at getting just one country, the United States, to agree that acid rain even exists let alone is harmful. The call for change has been presented by the scientific community. But only the will of our leaders, to agree to change, can make ity happen. Only if people band together on a global scale and force environmental issues on their unwilling politicians will some action be taken before the floodwaters begin to rise. The Green Party, composed of some such environmental activists, is already a potent minority force in ·Europe and has established a few tentative footholds in N. America. Ironically, though, the Green Party's primary raison d'etre has been its stand against all things nuclear. If fossil fuels are just as bad (or worse) than nuclear energy, what stand can they take? Hydroelectric power may be clean but it involves the flooding of vast wildlife habitats. All other clean energy forms such as solar energy and windmills have failed to live up to expectations - they remain either very expensive or of very limited application. To environmental purists, the only option is to freeze in the dark. Consider the implications of cutting our use of fossil fuels by one half. Mobil Oil is reluctant to develop the Hibernia oil field off Newfoundland at current deflated world oil prices so the federal government is considering a billion dollar subsidy. If the scientists are right, Hibernia isn't worth a dime and Alberta isn't worth much either. Iran and Iraq can blow each other into outer space and there will still be lots of oil to go around. Because there would be a glut of oil chasing dimi- nishing markets, the price would barely cover production. If you thought the tobacco lobby put a lot of money into proving smoking is good for you, wait 'til you see the hype the oil cartels will generate to disprove the need to cut consumption of their product. Too many countries have invested too much money in the status quo to accept change without a fight. Of course, it is possible that the scientists have overstated their case. You can be pretty sure that scientists held similar conferences back in the thirties and blamed the dustbowls on global trends which when extrapolated led inevitably to mass starvation and devastation. But the thirties was just one of many cycles and the current droughts in the West and in Africa may just as easily reverse themselves in a few years. I frankly have little confidence in the long-range predictions of a profession (meteorology) which can't even predict tomorrow's weather with more than 50/50 accuracy. But even if their long-range predictions are off the mark, there is little doubt that we are.indeed abusing our planet. If their predictions are right, civilization as we know it will be drastically altered but the planet and the human race will survive. We've been through climactic change before and although we needed a few extra bear skins to keep us warm during the ice ages, we survived. Mind you, we weren't too concerned about the over-consumption of fossil fuels or the relative merits of nuclear energy. The Hittites, the Egyptians, the Mayans - great civiliza- tions come and gone. Who'knows? maybe in a thousand years archaeologists will dig up ours and ponder what pestililence could have destroyed such an advanced race of people. WHITBY PUBLIC LIBRARY, CORNER OF DUNDAS AND BYRON STREETS, 1914 This library was built with funds from the Carnegie Foundation and opened on May 1, 1914. The site was provided by the County of Ontario Old Girls' Association at a cost of $500. The library moved to its present location in 1973. Whitby Archives photo 10 YEARS AGO from the Wednesday, July 5, 1978 edition of the WHITBY FREE PRESS * The Brooklin and District Kinsmen Club presented its community park to the Town of Whitby on June 29. • The Whitby Lions Club has presented $300 to the Iroquois Swim Club for purchase of equipment. • Three Corridor Area residents have planted flowers in potholes to draw the town's attention to poor roads in their neighborhood. • Students are being hired to act as "Teens on Patrol" to combat vandalism in town parks. 25 YEARS AGO from the Thursday, July 4, 1963 edition of the WHITBY WEEKLY NEWS • Edward Bowman has received the Peter Perry Award as Whitby's outstanding citizen of 1962. • W.C. McBride is Whitby's new Town Engineer. " The Town Council and Whitby Chamber of Commerce have succeeded in getting a post box installed at the four corners. • More than 100 boys are attending a summer camp north of D'Hillier Park, sponsored by the Viscount Greenwood Chapter IODE. 100 YEARS AGO from the Friday July 6, 1888 edition of the WHITBY CHRONICLE The summer picnic season has started at Corbett's Point (now Thickson's Point) on Lake Ontario. The Claremont BrasstBand led a parade to Brash's Grove, Ashburn, for Dominion Day celebration on July let. SMayor James Long has given the town a new exhibition grounds at Dundas and Garden Streets. *Toronte baseball clubs journey te Whitby te, play our tewn teani. lu' --~-~---.Ji' I lui ý 1 à ---l 1 m 9 1 m ........ .............. .