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i t t t t stoiiffisuntribiitie saturday dec j5 2007 istouffvftlem suntnbune 6290 main st stouflville0nl4alg7 wvwyorfaegioncom 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 a editorial reasonable accommodation has limit protecting children with poten tially deadly food allergies is with out question a matter of human rights accommodations have to be made for their allergies the same as any other disability but exactly howfar does a school have to go to accommodate them six students of st stephen catholic ele mentary school in woodbridge have filed complaints with the human rights commis sion over the cancellation of an allergy safety program for four years parents had to attach a note to every lunch assuring it was peanutfree then teachers would check every lunch to make sure it was safe that policy was discon- tinued in march however the school still sends letters home to all families saying nuts nut products and eggs must not be included in lunches it still enforces a food sharing ban it still bans home- baked goods it still trains staff to recognize and treat anaphylaxis it still takes away any food containing nuts or eggs and sends it home with a note about the policy in short this school has an extensive policy to protect the 26 students who have serious food allergies the policy st stephen cancelled is enforced in one other school in the york catholic board until 2006 school boards werent even required to have policies protecting children with allergies under the 2006 legislation boards must have measures to identify atrisk students make sure staff know how to treat them and theres a plan in place for emergencies the current policy at st stephen goes fur ther than the toronto and peel school boards which request parents not send foods with allergens to school but do not confiscate lunches for example had the school not introduced a more stringent policy in the past no human rights complaint would be levelled against the cur rent policy if the intention is to raise the standard of protection for students with allergies filing a human rights complaint against a school that is doing more than most to help isnt the best way to do it if the legislation is not adequate perhaps a new provincewide policy could be developed with input from school boards public health practitioners and parent groups so all children receive a high standard of protection meanwhile rafherthandraggingtheschool before the human rights commission maybe the parents could go back to the negotiating table to find ways to make things better for their childrea perhaps they could even vol unteer their services as lunch monitors if they believe inspections are important because somewhere there must be a limit to what constitutes reasonable accommoda tion endless information helps us know our planet w e know our planet is heating up and we know international climate negotiations such as the ones in bali last week are critical steps toward a global action plan to reduce heattrapping greenhouse gases but how will we be able to gauge if such a plan actu ally works in spite of all we have learned about our climate and planefs nat ural systems the past two decades relatively big holes exist in our capacity to monitor from exactly where global greenhouse gases are coming from and where they are going thats going to have to change in the coming years because we can no longer afford to leave such important measures to guesswork it may be hard for many of us to remember a time when global infor mation was not readily available at our fingertips but the amazing ability to access such vast amounts of data is a relatively recent phe nomenon today with supercomputers and the internet we can now share combine calculate and analyse information like never before for a simple example think about the software program google earth the capacity for anyone with a computer to see the entire planet in one instance and then zoom down to viewa closeup of virtually anywhere on the globe is simply astounding still even with all this data avail able we need much more the earth is incredibly complex to be able to understand how it works even in a basic sense requires vast amounts of informa tion to be acquired and monitored over time living sustainably within the planets limits will require we really get to know earth in the most inti mate of details a special edition of the journal nature looked at this issue and how well we are doing in monitoring the planet the results are mixed huge strides forward have been david suzuki with faisal moola achieved in some areas while oth ers limp along with sporadic fund ing or political changes that may stop projects entirely one of the most obvious mea surements that must be tracked over time is the level of carbon diox ide in the atmosphere as the principle greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is a key mechanism in global warming but critical questions remain half of the carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere gets soaked up again where it goes is the subject of much debate some say the oceans others say soils or plants the reality is we dont know for sure two satellites to be launched in the next year should help us get a better understanding of whats going on one called the orbiting carbon observatory will circle the earth measuring carbon dioxide levels a halfmillion times every day this information will be com bined with models of how our atmosphere circulates to give us a better understanding of how the earth absorbs carbon dioxide another project is called the greenhouse gases observing satel lite it will measure carbon dioxide as well but also other important greenhouse gases such as methane ozone and water vapour many other projects are also planned or are under way that will measure variables such as ice cover soil moisture urban growth and desertification wind speeds ocean temperatures phytoplank- ton growth and many more yet for every planned project there are budget shortfalls delays political interference international overlaps and duplications that can result in critical gaps in data this can be a serious problem reducing greenhouse gas emis sions and other human impacts on the planet is of course a vital task but measuring and accounting for these changes is just as impor tant its the only way well ever know if what were doing is having an effect accumulating basic data sets about the planet over long peri ods of time may be the scientific equivalent of watching paint dry but it is absolutely essential work for us to understand and protect our complicated little world take david suzukis nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include 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