There are a lot

On a recent train trip between Ottawa and Halifax it dawned on me as I watched the countryside go by.  There are a lot of trees in this country.  My train trip covered probably less a third of the way across the country.  So, you can imagine how many there are in total.  Our biggest forest is the northern boreal forest that stretches across Quebec, Ontario and the northern prairie provinces and into the arctic.  This forest also stretches across northern Russia so the tree count for this forest must be in the billions.

In addition, there are trees in almost every country in the world.  Despite clear cutting, the Amazon jungle is still of formidable size.  There are still significant forests in Europe, Asia and Africa.

But is it enough?

Scientists tell us that trees are one of the most important resources for ameliorating climate change. A tree’s ability to take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen is truly one of the most amazing things about nature.  But we are still seeing climate change get worse despite all of the trees we have.  Why?

The obvious answer is that we are putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the trees can handle.  That being the case, we have two choices.  We can plant billions of more trees, or we can significantly decrease the amount of carbon dioxide we put out.  Better still, we can do both and find the balance that will stem or even decrease the change of climate.  But we must act now so that the twin actions will have a chance to take effect.

The current arguments against the fact that climate change is being caused by human activity are, in my research and opinion, false.  Despite the argument that the climate has changed in the past, those changes took place over millennia, not within the lifetime of a single person. The Canadian argument that we don’t need to do anything because we only contribute about 2 percent of the global total ignores the fact that on a per capita basis, we are one of the largest contributors in the world.  And some government decisions have just made things worse, such as Premier Doug Ford’s decision to cancel a provincial tree planting program that would have planted fifty million trees.  That fifty million would help, but a goal of fifty billion may be closer to what’s needed.  In the prairie provinces, their desire to drown the world in their oil could be seen as a crime against humanity.

But the real answer is to seriously curb our use of carbon products.  We will never eliminate the need completely, but its limited use must be carefully and very efficiently done.  If we continue as we are, no matter how many trees we plant and grow, the carbon dioxide will still overwhelm that attempt.  

We should all be concerned about climate change.  And trees, those wonderful, beautiful gifts of nature, can only do so much.  Plant and protect trees and cut down our use of fossil fuels so that maybe we can actually reach or exceed the climate goals that have been established.  Maybe then the trees and us can all survive.

How Shallow are we?

“Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians.”
  - Chester Bowles

Almost all of the media coverage of the election race is focusing exclusively on the recently revealed pictures from 18 years ago that show Justin Trudeau at a theme party dressed up as the fictional character Aladdin (probably more accurately in Arabic as Al Ad Din).  This seems to be the rational that we are supposed to use to determine who we vote for on October 21^st.  Is he racist?  Is he disparaging Arabs?  Will this be a reason for us to lose favour with the rest of the world?  My answer is wsag (who gives a sh&t)?

“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.”
  - Abraham Lincoln

If this is the reason we are going to use to determine the future of our country, we are a very shallow people indeed.  If the past is going to be used to determine our future, we really need to give our collective heads a shake.  

“Man is a credulous animal and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.”
  - Bertrand Russell

The stupidest political statement that was ever made was Kim Campbell’s comment that elections were no time to discuss serious issues.  Of course they are the time to discuss serious issues!  When else does the voting public get a chance to ask serious questions about policy of potential politicians?  Once a party is in power the decisions on serious issues are out of our hands.  The die is cast as the saying goes.  You next opportunity is the next election when, supposedly, we are again not to discuss serious issues.

One of the main issues we must face is climate change.  Last Friday, millions of young people from around the world showed us that this was their priority issue.  If we want to make a better world for the young, we better be paying attention to this plea and get serious about doing something significant about it.  One article in Saturday’s Ottawa Citizen recorded the failure of successive Canadian governments to do anything that has any hope of doing any good in this fight.  In the current election, there is one leader who has at least instituted a carbon tax (which too many provinces are wasting taxpayers’ dollars fighting in court) while the other has said he wants to pump more and more oil and gas into the world.  You decide what’s worth while.  Which of our leaders is going to show real leadership on this issue?  Real leadership is the courage to get people to do what they may not really want to do, but that is necessary for the betterment of all.

There are other important issues that should be discussed.  Foreign relations would be a good start.  How are we going to manage our relations with the US?  With China?  Will “getting tough” with China really work?

I’m getting sick and tired of each successive government trying to buy my vote with so-called goodies.  If I could find a party that would not try to buy my vote with my tax dollars, I would become a champion of that party. 

But as we all know, and as the press keeps telling us, the only really important issue in this election is Justin Trudeau’s blackface costume.  How shallow!

“Politics is made up largely of irrelevancies.”
  - Dalton Camp

It shouldn't be.

Waiting for the . . .

Second boot to drop?  Next government scandal?  The upcoming recession? Dental appointment?

When my wife and I first got married we lived on the bottom floor in a two story apartment.  In one of the apartments upstairs from us, we would hear a boot drop.  We waited for the second one, which duly arrived.  But then would come a third one.  Unnerving to say the least.

Governments at all levels and in any country are prone to gaffs, scandals and stupidity.  It has become almost a daily event and we wait anxiously for the next one to arrive.  The latest in Canada has been the Ethics Commissioner’s report on the performance of the Prime Minister during the SNC Lavalin issue.  To my mind, the worst part was not the report itself.  What is the most damaging was the refusal of the PM to apologize for his behaviour.  He said that he would not apologize for saving Canadian jobs.  But there was never any danger of jobs being lost since the projects that the company had would still go on and they would still be done by Canadian workers.  See my previous blog on this subject at http://gordf.blogspot.com/2019/03/snc-lavalin-fantasy-of-numbers.html. 

The President of the United States wants to buy Greenland to add to its colonial empire.  Denmark, which “owns” Greenland says there is no way that they would sell the world’s largest island.  So POTUS took umbrage and cancelled a visit to Denmark.  Another so-called US ally down the drain.

In the UK under a new Prime Minister, Brexit staggers on to sad conclusion.  The UK has to learn that this is no longer the Victorian age where Britain could claim to be the most powerful and commercially successful country in the world.  It is now the age of globalization and despite those who deplore the idea, globalization is not going away.  Multi-national corporations now control most of the international commerce and they are not going to let that go.

“You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too.”
  - John Kenneth Galbraith

“Too bad the only people who know how to run the country are busy driving cabs and cutting hair.”
  - George Burns

There is a lot of talk these days about “the” upcoming economic recession.  Most of this talk is in the financial press, but it sometimes leaks into the news section.  This is the way a lot of recessions begin; with predictions in the press.  Which makes me wonder if this press coverage becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Because of the press coverage, people stop buying goods and services.  Investors stop investing.  Companies stop making improvements or hiring new hires.  Voila, a recession.  Maybe if the press shut up about it, things would be fine.

“In journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right.”
  - Ellen Goodman

 I was at my dentist the other day.  As I was led to the dental chair by the dental assistant, I took off my glasses and my hearing aids.  She said, “You don’t have to take those out.”  I said, “Oh yes I do.  I hate to hear myself scream.”

Donald Trumps motto:  “The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.”
  - Edith Sitwell

And what are you waiting for?