Thursday, June 7, 2012

Why Everyone Believing in Climate Change Might be Really Bad for Climate Change


It’s hard to cut through the layers. A news report links to an NGO briefing. Links to a report. Links to another report. And at the center? Not a solid core, but instead an amorphous collection of scientific uncertainty.

The clamour rises nonetheless.

Meanwhile, scientists have stepped sheepishly aside, not lying so much as omitting the truth. Why should they, when the public concern they’ve been begging for is amplified by each new heat wave and multiplied by every flood.

That question was so rhetorical that I didn’t even bother to end it with a question mark, but I’m going to answer it anyway. Because whether or not one believes the end justifies the means, we’re headed down a road that could really come back to bite the scientific community.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Greening Higher Places

Population pressure and environmental concerns are pushing cities around the world to embrace the concept of green roofs. As climate change distorts natural systems, the environmental, economic and aesthetic benefits of green roofs are set to create a new norm in city management.

See the full article: http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2012/02/08/greening-higher-places/

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Hockey and Climate Change: Canada’s Game in a Warming World


It seems to me that all this talk about the potential impact of climate change on Canadian food production is missing the point. Has food production ever won us Olympic gold over the Americans? Has food production ever filled an arena in Winnipeg? Do you reminisce about where you were during the famous food production series of ’72?

No?

Well then let's dispense of all this non-essential talk and get down to what really matters: what does climate change mean for hockey? More specifically, what does the possibility of all that melting ice mean for Canada’s place in hockey?