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6 economist sunsuntribune saturday dec 10 2005 suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stoufmlle on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot edrrcm 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 marketlngpartnerships director debra welter york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor safe shopping lesson learned hard way re practise safe shopping through holiday season dec 3 i firmly agree safety is extremely important and should be the fociis of everything people do including shop ping i think safe shopping should be practised throughout the year and not just at christmas in addition to shopping during the day or with a friend or family member it is also important to stress you should arrive and leave the mall with someone else i figured this out the hard way in september i was walking home from markville shopping centre at closing time when i was harassed in the parking lot and followed by a man in a car he attempted to get me to get into the car with him luckily i was able to con tact my mother just as he cut me off with his car coincidentally my mom was at the mall and was leaving at the same time she drove toward me and i got into my mothers car and the other driver drove off this was an unfortunate situation but it could have been a lot worse i think that practising safe shopping should be stressed all year round alyssa penny markham public transportation would make events safer healthier re midnight madness this saturday nov 17 i dont think there are sufficient park ing spaces on main street for such an event the large number of cars being driven to such events cause too much pollution which will guide the world one step clos er to global warming although christmas shopping and free carriage rides may seem thrilling and most enjoyable the impatient waiting for the limited parking spaces along main street becomes an issue especially when everyone is eager to enter the shops driving may be dangerous because drivers are racing around to compete for parking spaces shoppers will be dashing across streets to the stores its an unsafe environment the vehi cles cause major traffic jams confusion anxiousness tension between drivers and more pollution than necessary the solution would be to create a public transportation system for annual main street events by assigning buses to travel from specific bus stops to main street the buses will escort the people safely and conveniently ensuring safety for all jennifer leung markham allivyantis a federau political ftkfy i cam believe in businesses want stable climate too when industry groups start to sound like environ mentalists you know youve got either a big prob lem or a big opportunity in the case of climate change its both last week at the ongoing united nations climate confer ence in montreal a group repre senting some of canadas largest corporations released a joint state ment about the need to reduce the greenhouse gases overheating our atmosphere but it wasnt a com plaint that targets were too strict or that it couldnt be done that the climate isnt really changing or that taking action will crush the economy or any number of other wellworn cliches instead it was a call for leader ship to help us do more we need policy certainty for post2012 they wrote in a joint statement we need a strategy now for the next 50 years with short and mediumterm targets to guide us governments must set clear markers along the way to unleash competitive market forces and allow the discovery of a longterm value for carbon emission reduc tions the group calls itself the executive forum on climate change and it includes companies such as shell alcan dupont bombardier home depot and many others in a letter to the prime minister they recognized the consensus that climate change raises the risk of severe consequences for human health and security and the environment thats right these huge com panies all recognize climate change is a big problem and that they are part of it now they want political leadership they want certainty they want a level play ing field they want to know what their targets should be and they david suzuki want governments to set the markers for longterm greenhouse gas reductions their concerns make a great deal of sense businesses need cer tainty investors want to know what the landscape will look like over the long term they dont like surprises as former chairperson of shell oil lord ron oxburgh put it what we dont want to see is in two years time the government simply becoming bored with cli mate change after weve invested a lot of our shareholders money thats why medium and long- term emissions targets are so important for businesses or for anyone else planning for the future the kyoto protocol effec tively expires in 2012 and kyoto was always going to be the first step toward much bigger changes to prevent what scientists call dangerous climate change research is pointing to a need for substantial cuts to our emissions as much as 80 per cent by 2050 such dramatic change cannot be accomplished overnight but it can be accomplished i vividly jemember when the soviet union shocked the world by launching sputnik in the fall of 1957 in the succeeding months the soviets scored first after first first animal first cosmonaut first team first woman as the us failed spectacularly to duplicate the first feat but the us didnt roll over and complain that a space race would ruin the economy instead it committed itself to win ning it and look at the dividends today the us practically owns the nobel prizes effectively fighting climate change will require an initiative even greater than the space race but this new race the energy race will pay off with even greater dividends by learning to be more energy efficient we not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions we also save money and we reduce pollution by switching to renewable energy sources we cre ate longterm jobs and diversify our economy we improve our quality of life clear goals and timetables will help unleash the market forces that will ultimately drive the cre ativity ingenuity and inventive ness we need to move to a new energy economy join the nature challenge and learn more at wwwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the suntribune welcomes your leticrs submissions must be less iban 100 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 letters to the editor the suntribune 34 civic ave box 154 stoufmlle on 14a7z5 jmasonsyrnrcom editorial editor jim mason jinasoniiynigcom administration office manager vivian oneil 1wicil6pymgcom events management shows manager bonnie rondeau brondcauyrngcom production manager pain nichols imkliolsyrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell aeamplkllymgcom retail manager stacey allen sauenyrngcom managing director new business flyer sales dawna andrews danilreivsyrngcom managing director real estate mike rogerson mrogcrsonymgcom editorial 9059055131717 f 9055137525 advertising 905531717 classified i8oo7433353f 905513755 distribution 9055131717 cvurjun ororto curj0al fmt aura bun member cornea 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 across ontario the york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill andthomhill vaughan citizen the economist sun marwiamthe erabanner newmarket aurora stouffville suntribune georgjna advocate york region business times 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