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6 economist sunsimtribune saturday oct i 2005 s t stouffville suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 cmc ave 3rd floor stouffville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot edrror in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci distribution director circulation barry black director circulation systems lynn pashko marketingpartnerships director debra weller york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor canada has no need for governor general despite the inspiring story of michaelle jean the position of governor general serves no significant purpose and provides little contribution to canada except for the preservation of canadas history as we have witnessed with michaelle jeans predecessor adrienne clarkson no impact upon canada was made while approximately 9 billion of taxpayers money was wasted on unimportant expen ditures with canada and the world facing many troubles including the prospect of a reced ing economy due to the increase in oil prices poor health care and poverty is it necessary to spend billions of dollars on an annual basis to preserve our past when our present and future may be in serious jeop ardy imtiazhosein markham ban peanuts from schools re banned sept 24 monika pettits view on peanut allergies is both narrowminded and selfish not only does she have a misguided understanding on the dangers of peanut allergies she also adds insult to her view by chastising parents trying to protect their children from its dan gers why am i taking this stance not because my children have peanut allergies but because as parents we have a responsi bility to protect all children and if thats as simple as excluding peanut products from our childrens menus then thats something we should do willingly yes the real world can be a dangerous place parents know that we also know we cant protect our children from everything but we can and we should protect them from obvious dangers especially ones that can kill peanut allergies are serious its often a race against time to get to a hospital children with peanut allergies have to carry epipens with them in case they are acciden tally exposed to the product and contrary to what ms pettit thinks children with peanut allergies are taught early in life they have it and to avoid it their exposure to peanut products results not from their own carelessness but from the carelessness of others such as ms pettit to compare an anaphylactic reaction to one of lactose intolerance shows how sadly lacking ms pettits knowledge is on how the human body works even a layman knows that death and diarrhea are not the same ms pettit might do well to visit a health pro fessional to sort out the differences between the two will ms pettits conscience allow her to sleep at night if god forbid she ever con tributes to the death of a child because her right to bring peanut butter sandwiches to school supersedes those who might die from it or could it be she is simply annoyed that the quick convenience of slapping together two pieces of bread with peanut butter for her own child has been taken away for the sake of all children who have peanut allergies and for the sake of pro tecting them from people like ms pettit lets get on and pass that law to ban peanuts from schools mayyeung markham s of warming dont pan out stuck out in the cold on freezing february mornings canadians can be forgiven for thinking bring on global warming but new research tells us we should be careful what we wish for wishful thinking about global warming isnt limited to cold canadians in fact some people have suggested a warmer planet would be beneficial for humanity by allowing farmers to plant crops in areas that are other wise be too cold for example and by increas ing tree growth and creating more lumber in theory all that extra plant growth would also suck up carbon from the air which could slow and eventually reverse global warming handily solving the problem for us sounds too good to be true and it most likely is however it has been difficult to find out how plants will actually respond to pro longed increased temperatures experiments have been conducted on small plots using heat lamps but these were very limited in david suzuki scope and hardly mimic changes that would take place on much larger scales scientists tell us we can expect more extreme weather events such as heat waves and droughts as climate change progresses europes summer of 2003 gave scientists the opportunity to examine what prolonged hot temperatures will mean for plant growth across a large area that summer tempera tures soared across europe with averages exceeding the norm by 6c rainfall also decreased by 50 per cent compared to the average it was a scorcher and 16000 parisians died from the heat europe is fortunate to have an extensive network of scientific monitoring stations giv ing scientists access to huge amounts of data so the european union commissioned scien tists to mine those data to find out how the heat wave affected plant growth and carbon dioxide levels the results were published in a recent edition of the journal nature researchers from 17 countries examined crop yield information and satellite data along with carbon dioxide readings from 14 forest sites and one grassland site they found europe lost 30 per cent of its plant life over the summer of 2003 this decrease in biomass weight of living matter combined with an increase in plant respiration which releases carbon dioxide means that during the course of one summer europes forests and fields released more carbon dioxide than all its plants had sucked up over the previous four years their findings do not include the release of carbon into the atmosphere from massive forest fires that also raged during that sum mer more droughts could actually speed up climate change and make the problem worse of course if temperature changes occur slow enough its possible forests and crops could acclimate and fare better but those increased temperatures could also lead to other problems such as increased pests diseases and fires the researchers say more studies needed to find out what to expect in the future we still have an opportunity to choose that future by reducing the emissions that are causing die problem we can slow climate change and reduce the tiireat whats more by becoming more efficient and less wasteful canada can become more economically competitive right now it will also boost innovation and creativity setting us up to be global leaders in the future tate the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg 1 letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters submissions must be loss than 400 words and include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the rifiht to publish or not publish and edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 34 cmc ave box 154 stouffville on l4a7zs msonyrngcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonymgcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilyrngcom events management shows manager bonnie rondeau brondeauyrngcom production manager pain nichols pnicbolsyrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbcllymgcom retail manager staceyallen sallenymgcom managing director new business flyer sales dawna andrews dandrcwsymgcom managing director real estate mike rogerson mrogersonymgcom editqrial 9056402612 fax9052941538 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353fax 9058531765 distribution 9052948244 cantdun ontario ckmatkmtl9l art bond motor coalca suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications 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