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fc rt i i vt 6 vstrnffme suntribune saturday sept 22 2007 0btouftvule mmm suntnbune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a1g7 wwwyorkregioncom publisher iicm 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 funding faith schools divisive re christian school backs tory plan stouffville christian school princi pal jake vriend supports the tory pro posal for public funding of faithbased schools as a matter of justice he sees ontario as a holdout province imply ing i guess that other provinces have long ago got on this band wagon the present system discriminates in favour of catholic schools id like to think thoughtful catholics might be pre pared to review this if only to avoid the consequences of this new proposal john tory frequently mentions que bec as having a similar system in fact quebec disbanded the protestant and catholic systems in favour of one system with either french or english classes he doesnt mention newfoundland which was plagued with a multiplicity of religious schools in small communities in spite of strong opposition it moved to a single system he omits mention ing manitoba did away with religious schools early in the last century mr tory and his candidates believe a system which encourages and supports christians perhaps divided into angli cans presbyterians baptists sikhs buddhists muslim jews jehovahs wit nesses whatever to associate only with their own ethnicreligious group for 12 years will unite ontarians i believe it to be the most divisive proposal imaginable how many new schools will be required how many schools will see their student body deci mated or become nonviable is this a sensible way to spend 400 million as an evangelical christian i urge everyone to put common sense and our educational system ahead of any per sonal advantage the proposal offers blake tupford stouffville town embraced terry fox run i wanted to applaud all of stouffville for a wonderful turnout for this years terry fox run our litde town has cer tainly embraced this cause i was a volunteer and helped with registration it was so moving to see people of all ages and handicaps signing up for the runwalk there were tears and people with pictures of loved ones pinned to their tshirts but most of all lots of hugs and encouragement i wanted to do a little extra this year because this terrible dis ease touched our family i want to thank stouffville run co ordinator sandy schell kennedy and her wonderful team for their countless hours of hard work and dedication christina baggs stouffville species loss can weaken entire ecosystems npi j- i he world conservation union recently released its annual red list of endan gered species for 2007 another 200 species were added to the existing list of more than 16000 but what many people dont realize is the decline of these species isnt just a sad story thats happening out there in nature ifs really a story thats happening to us one were doing to ourselves and its making all of the ecosystems we ultimately depend on biologically poorer and more vulnerable living in cities its easy to forget how much we depend on the services provided by healthy natural ecosystems things such as cleansing water filtering air and storing carbon to reduce global warming our health and wellbeing depend on these services which have also been conservatively estimated at being worth trillions of dollars to the global economy however reading stories about how species are being pushed to the brink of extinction doesnt necessarily trigger alarm bells about our own future many of the animals in these types of stories have exotic names from faraway places such as the yangtze river dolphin and the western lowland gorilla so its easy to gloss over it as someone elses problem the reality is in an interconnected world their problem is our problem as hard as it may be for some people to believe the other species of the world dont exist just to look pretty and give tourists something to photograph they actually fulfill ecological niches their mere existence is often vital to the overall health of the ecosystem losing a species or having one pushed to the brink of extinction can have what biologists call cascading effects on the entire region consider the role of large david suzuki with faisal moola primates in tropical forests in these forests large primates play several important roles one of which is in seed dispersal many tropical primates are frugivores that is their diet consists largely of fruit while smallseeded fruit trees may have a large number of species including mammals reptiles and birds to help them spread their seeds largeseeded tropical fruit trees rely largely on bigger mammals especially primates when primates such as monkeys apes and chimps eat fruit they physically spread the seeds over a wide area of forest floor so the animals receive sustenance from the fruit while the trees get their seeds spread across a large area allowing them to grow elsewhere which then provides more food for the primates its a mutually beneficial relationship when large primates are hunted to greatly reduced numbers as they increasingly are it can have a profound impact on the ecosystem for example a recent special edition of the journal biotropica focused on the impact of whats called the bushmeat trade local hunting that often includes primates in one study researchers from the university of illinois looked at two sections of peruvian forest one section had been heavily hunted by local people using modern weapons such as shotguns and had lost more than 80 per cent of its large primates the other section was protected from hunting the researchers found there were 55 per cent fewer species of largeseeded fruit trees in the unprotected forest and 60 per cent less of the fruit trees themselves in other words once the large primates were gone the trees that depended on them started to disappear too of course as the researchers point out this has a number of unfortunate consequences itmakes the forestless hospitable to large primates so they are less likely to be able to ever come back having less fruit tree diversity makes remaining primates more vulnerable in times of scarcity humans depend on the services provided by healthy ecosystems so its in our best interests to conserve the creatures that live in them me the 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 a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribunercservos the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clar ity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 6290 main st stouffville on l4a ig7 jmasonyrmgcom editorial editor jim mason jmasonyrmgcom- 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