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6 economist sunsuntribune saturday feb 26 2005 opinion tstollffvtlle g w suntribune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director retail fever sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci distribution director circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko marketlgpartnerships director debra weller york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor plow program doesnt work samesex stats misused my husband and i live at the corner of 14th avenue and chatelaine drive in markham paying the same high taxes all homeowners do we are both 68 years of age and my husband had bypass surgery we are able to shovel snow from our driveway but it is a health risk for us to shovel the nearly two to three feet of hard packed snow town plows dump at the end of our driveway under the advice of my husbands heart specialist we have signed up for a hardship program with the town designed for persons in our situation the arrangement is for a smaller plow to come and plow out our driveway this has riot happened for the entire winter season does such a program actually exist early this week my husband fell on our street after getting his morning news paper and hit his neck hard on a curb he needed to seek medical attention i called the town to have it send someone out to plow so we could drive to the hos pital we were told when all primary roads were plowed driveways would be taken care of in previous years we have often had to wait three days for this to be done this is unacceptable when a medication emergency arises for my husband to get to the hospital i went out and shovelled the entire area lefs not fill up markham stouffville hospital unnecessarily with patients suf fering heart attacks doing what the town should be doing doris herman markham re supporting gay marriage could hurt health system letter feb 19 1 think statistics have been misused by john howarth to improperly support a narrow point of view mr howarth implies the govern ments acceptance of a homosexual lifestyle will increase the health costs for aids this is equivalent to saying mar riage increases the related health costs of other sexually transmitted diseases i believe an increase in the number of permanent lifetime partnerships and the corresponding reduction of unat tached persons reduces health costs it reduces the number of partners a per son would have over their lifetime and their potential exposure to stds since mr howarth is interested in reducing the occurrence and cost of aids he should be supporting same- sex marriages if mr howarth is concerned with government policy and health costs he should look at the statistics on the costs associated with health problems brought on by obesity and smoking our health care system costs would benefit more from a general change in lifestyle by a larger portion of the popu lation than focusing on a small segment of one portion of our populous that he addressed statistics on disease to sexual orien tation race or other life factors should be used for prevention programs and research into cures but not political agendas paul naish markham enacting of kyoto treaty brings naysayers out of woodwork if you didnt know what the kyoto protocol was all about a few weeks ago youd be hard pressed not to know now the international agreement to reduce the heattrapping emissions causing global warming has been all over the news since it came into force last week leading up to the big day i expected to hear from both sides of the issue in the media those who felt the agreement was an important first step to address a huge challenge for humanity and those who felt the targets would be too difficult to achieve in a short timeline what i didnt really expect was how the climate change isnt happening people crawled out of the woodwork bleating about myths and conspiracy theories that some how seemed to involve nutty leftwing scien tists government bureaucrats and the french naively i had assumed this discussion was largely over since these people had such little credibility but there they were being interviewed on television in newspapers and on the radio sometimes right along- david suzuki side legitimate climate scientists or politi cians over and over they made bizarre pro nouncements about how the science was uncertain and how humanitys hand in glob al warming could not be proven this continued insistence on proof even in the face of overwhelming evidence is sim ply bizarre to say that we dont know enough about climate change to prompt action is to say that the entire discipline of science as we know it should not be trusted uncertainty is inherent in the scientific process currently the vast majority of scientific evidence tells us that human activities are causing climate change and that it could have very serious consequences if we dont do something about it of course the science could all be wrong but i wouldnt bet our future on it anyone who wants to know the real story on the current state of climate science should simply pick up a science journal or to cut to the chase read a short article by the university of californias naomi oreskes published in the journal science in december her analysis of all 928 peer- reviewed climate studies published between 1993 and 2003 found not a single one dis agreed with the general scientific consensus position on climate change yet in spite of this and in spite of the thou sands of climate scientists who are working directly on this issue and are very concerned about it from whom did we hear as kyoto approached a handful of pundits peddling warmedover opinion articles and halfbaked interviews yes good dialogue discussion and debate are vital to journalism democracy and science but they have to be informed dia logue not conspiracy theories and that is exacdy what these people are serving up of course part of the problem is that jour nalism is fueled by conflict so reporters will often dredge up a crusty commentator to make sure a story is balanced that may make for great tv drama but its giving industry and politicians an excuse to drag their heels on taking action and heel drag ging is hardly prudent in light of the science our climate is a very complicated system we dont know everything about how it works but were learning more each day what we do know tells us that by dumping vast quantities of emissions into the atmos phere we are disrupting our climate in ways that may make it increasingly inhospitable the kyoto protocol by itself wont stop this from happening but its the first step towards an energy economy that could that wont stop some people from bleat ing their conspiracy theories and claims that everything is going to be just fine given how disturbing the real science is i sincerely wish they were right take the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters submissions must be less than 400 words and include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and edit for clarity and space utters to the editor the suntribune 34 civic ave box 154 stouffville on l4a7z5 jmasondyrngcom 1 itit editorial editor jim mason jmasonisyriigcom administration office manager vivian oneil vonciiyrngcom events management shows showsyrngcom production manager pam nichols pnicholsyrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbellymgcom retail manager staceyallen sallenyrngcom managing director new business flyer sales dawna andrews dandrewsymgcom new business manager steve kane skaneyrngcom managing director real estate mike rogerson mrogersonyrngcom editorial 9056402612 fax 9o564o8778 advertising 9056402612 classified i8oo7433353fax 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