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6 stoufjvilk suhtribunek saturday nov 24 2007 pinion ases suntnbune 6290 main st stoufmlle on l4a 1g7 wwyorkregioncom publisher ian proudfoot editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director interactive media technology john futhey director advertising york region printing distribution general manager barry black bob dean director circulation systems lynn pashko letters to the editor why not just burn our leaves so the leaves have fallen we all got into our cars and drove out to get a couple- dozen leaf bags the bags were made in kentucky of paper from trees cut down somewhere in north america and sent to the sulphur- spewing paper mill then trucked to the bag plant covered with printers ink to advertise a community retailer made into bags then packaged with a plastic band into packs of five loaded on more trucks and delivered to some central warehouses in ontario and finally redistributed to our local retailers at home we fired up our noisy gaso linepowered leaf blowers and for hours directed the leaves into a huge pile on the lawn near the driveway then we filled all those lovely bags and put them out for a monday morning pickup dozens of turtle island diesel trucks drove all over town stopping and starting hundreds of times spewing more carbon and whatever into the environment and then took all these leaves to god-knows- where to be chopped up by another energy- consuming machine to be made into com post or whatever does anyone remember handraking the leaves to the curb and lighting a match probably much less pollution ron brownsberger stouffville towns recycling contractor has to keep it neat or face fines re students just want recyclables picked up oct 10 i would like to take amoment to correct a misconception in this article regarding the statement made on why turtle island recycling so neatly stacks our waste containers after collection whitchurchstouffvilles director of pub lic works paul whitehouse said its turtle island recyclings signature and it wants to leave the area looking tidy well i must take this opportunity to correct mr whitehouse and educate the community if is more that turtle island is contractu ally obligated under its collection agree ment to do so not because it chooses to do so a failure to comply will result in a mon etary fine to the contractor for each inci dent of noncompliance ranging from 500 to 2000 per incident depending on the frequency so you can see it is not turtle islands signature it is its financial incentive to place your waste receptacles so nice and neat at the side of your drive derek sawyer stouffville radical measures should serve as wakeup call if actually cutting greenhouse gas emissions isnt going very well largely due to incessant foot dragging by politicians how about coming up with some new technology or chemical to put into the atmosphere to help neu tralize global warming fifty respected climate energy and economics researchers met at cambridge university to discuss that very question the process is called geoengineering and it basi cally involves tinkering with the planets climate to find alternate ways to prevent the very worst effects of runaway global warming in theory geoengineering is cer tainly possible after all thats what weve unintentionally been doing for decades with gases such as carbon dioxide that cause global warming and aerosols or soot from air planes ships factories and other sources have also been shown to affect the climate sometimes these tiny particles in the air absorb heat and hold it closer to the earth adding to the overall warming trend other times the particles can cause localized cooling by reflect ing sunlight back into space indian researchers for example now say air pollution in india has reduced the amount of sunlight the country receives by 5 per cent over the past 20 years but geoengineering in this con text specifically refers to intention ally tinkering with the atmosphere in this case to help mask the effects of our other unintentional tinkering would it work should we even talk about it according to those research ers at the cambridge meeting the answer to the second question is a qualified yes in an article in the journal science they point out while they worry the public and politicians might gravitate toward these technical solutions global warming is too dangerous to avoid discussing all available options even if they are a last resort huge knowledge gaps exist in geoengineering solutions one idea involves seeding the oceans with david suzuki with faisal moola iron or phosphate to help stimu late the growth of plankton which would theoretically help remove carbon from the atmosphere however no one knows what else it would do or if it would work in fact parties to the london con vention an international treaty governing ocean pollution agreed such largescale ocean seeding is not justified given gaps in scientific knowledge another idea involves spraying sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere mimicking the effect of largescale volcanic eruptions similar to what is happening in india the theory is this layer of pollution high in the atmosphere would reflect some sunlight away from the earth and act as a buffer against the heating effect of increasing carbon dioxide emissions for each theory the conference participants pointed out gaps and concerns which ranged from the practical cost and technical abil ity to potentially devastating eco logical consequences that are by and large unpredictable to experiment with the atmo sphere is to experiment with life as we know it after all this isnt a test tube this is all the known life in the universe the fact some researchers are even willing to discuss such radical and dangerous methods to slow global warming should be a wake- up call to world leaders meeting at the international climate change conference in bali indonesia next month if serious scientists are actually contemplating such dras tic measures it ought to show just how dire the situation has become what is desperately needed researchers say is what we have yet to see genuine efforts to sub stantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale thats why this next climate conference is so important this is an opportunity to look beyond kyoto to the next level of engagement and agree to the sub stantial greenihouse gas reduction targets scientists say we need to avoid the worst of global warming cooperation from the united states and china the worlds largest greenhouse gas emitters is obviously critical to reducing global greenhouse pollution but countries such as canada could play an important role if we lead rather than follow and step up rather than cower behind our big brother it isnt good enough to just hope we dont have to attempt the unthinkable we have to actually take serious steps to prevent it learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiofg letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribuncrescrves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stoufmlle on l4aig7 jmasonyrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonymigcom interactive media marketing advertising manager dawna andrews dandretisyrmgcom advertising retail manager staceyallen sallenynngcom classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrmgcom assistant classified manager bonnie rondeau brondeauynngcom production team leader sherry day sdayynngcom ontario press counol ope cwiactxi cbcumfofts audt board master ccab editorial 9056402612 fax9056408778 advertising 9056402612 classified 18007433353 fax9056408778 distribution 9056402612 suntnbune a york region media group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a division of the metroland media group ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 100 community 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