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ADVERTISING 905-640-2612 Classified: 1-800-743-3353 Fax: 905-640â€"8778 is comprised of 100 community publications across Ontario. The York Region Newspaper Group also includes The Uberal, sewing Richmond Hill and Thomhill, Vaughan Citizen,The Era-Banner (Newmarket/Aurora), Markham Economist The Sun-Tribune welcomes your let- ters. All submissions must be less than 400 words and must lnclude a daytime telephone number, name and address The Sun-Tribune reserves the right to publish or not publlsh and to edit for clar- ity and space. Laden; to the Editor, The Sun-Trlbune 6290 Main St. Stouflvlllo, 0N LM IG7 York Region Media Group community DCWSWPCI’S The Sun-Tribune. published everyThursday r and Saturday, is a division of the Metmland Media Group ltd, a mollyowned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. Metroland Sun, Georgina Advocate,York Region Business Times, North of the City, yonaegioncom and York Region Printing. Classified Manager Bonnie Rondeau SEW-Tribune DISTRIBUTION Circulation Supervisor Carrie MacFarlane Mike Banville mbanuille@yrmg.com brondeau®yrmgcom Dawna Andrews dandrewseyrmgfiom jmasonOyrmg.com Carolyn Norman cnorman@yrmg.com EDITORIAL Editor Ii m Mason j mason @yrmg. com Anvmmsmc Retail Manager lETTERS POLICY PRODUCTION Manager Sherry Day sday@yrmg.com DISTRIBUTION 905-640-2612 INTERACTIVE 905-640-2612 xx: 905-640â€"8778 EDITORIAL he world’s richest countries appear to be taking climate change seriously. At their recent meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, GB countries agreed that global warming should not exceed two degrees Celsius, on average, over the preâ€"industrial tem- perature. The European Union, along with more than 100 other countries, heeded the advice of climate scientists some time ago in committing not to breach the threshold â€" but it took this meeting to get Canada, the US, and Russia on board. The reason for the limit is simple. Sci- entific research shows that the impacts of climate change would be dramatic if average global temperatures were to rise above this level. Crop yields would decline, many more of the world's plants and animals would be at risk of extinc- tion, water availability would decrease significantly for many human popula- tions, violent storms would become more frequent and oceans would rise more quickly. The threat of sea-level rise is so seri- ous that 43 island states have set 1.5 degrees as their “dangerous” thleshold. Scientists predict an incmase of two degrees would rake ocean levels high enough to swamp many of these island nations Re: Don’t force adult riders to wear bike helmets, letter to the ediâ€" tor by G. Scholey, Aug. 1. I was appalled by this letter. The author argues that if an adult can graduate from univer- sity, buy a house and raise a fam- ily, then they should also have the right to choose whether or not to wear a bike helmet and to accept the risks of that decision. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ‘ ' ' ' Why not give adults, fully under- Head Injunes hurt kIds standing the risks, the option not Re: Don’t force adult ridefs t0 to wear seat‘belts While dflvmg? But, who will raise your chil- dren or pay your mortgage when you are left in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury? If you don’t think that could happen, please take a short drive to Sunnybrook hospital in Toron- to and ask to visit a patient in the acquired brain injury ward. Perhaps seeing this patient and speaking with their family would make the decision to place a small piece of plastic on the top of your head that much easier. Granted, we are surrounded by risks to our safety on a daily basis. But if we are going to allow adults to decide what activities they deem risky enough to warrant use of protective equipment, why stop with bike helmets? We all recognize and accept the risks of driving on our roadways. G8 moves on climate change, but is it enough? A pledge by the world's most prosper- Toron- ient in ' ward. nt and ' would a small nf vnnr As parents, we would not even think of putting our children into the car without a seat-belt. Why? Because despite the low probabil- ity of an accident, we want to give them the best odds of surviving. should one occur. The majority of car accidents are single-vehicle collisions. Therefore, the only people they are hurting are themselves, right? Why not allow adults to operate watercraft without life jackets? If they drown, it’s their fault because they knew better, correct? . The point is injuries do not solely impact the injured. They can dramatically impact the sur- vivors as well. Let’s think about the spouse who will spend the rest of their lives without their partner and the child who will grow up without their mother or father. We need to understand, how- ever, that our children can also be harmed when something happens to the adult. I pray you will consid- er this the next time you take your children out for a bike ride. And I pray you will also take 30 seconds to secure your chin-strap. ousoounuiestolimitwamfingtoMo degrees is a step forward, but it’s a small step To succeed, nations must reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply over the next decade and continue to reduce them until at least 2050. Action from everybody â€" governments, industry, and â€" is essential Even if nations fulfill their prom- ises. it won’t be enough. According to a recent article in Nature, “Halfway to Copenhagen, no way to 2°C", emission- reduction commitments by the world's indttstrlalized countries are inadequate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Cli- matedmrgefoundfliattostaybelow two degrees, industrialized countries with Faisal Moola David Suzuki S. BALDRY STOUFFVILLE Siwifi'i'li'ibune must reduce emissions by 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. But the Nature article calculated that the col- lective commitments of industrialized countries add up to only 10 to 16 per cent. The research showed that, even if all countries met their targets, there would be no chance of limiting warming to The Nature article also concluded that pledges by developing countries are inadequate. This, too, can be laid at the feet of the world’s industrialized counâ€" Wealthy‘nations filled the atmo- sphere with greenhouse gases over the course of their development and so they agreed at the United Nations talks in Bali in December 2007 to provide clean technologies and financial resources so that developing nations could grow sus- tainably. But rich countries have yet to agree on how to deliver that support. Reducing poverty is often the first pri- on'ty for developing nations and many remain reluctant to make commitments to curb emissions until they get support from industrialized countries The head of the UN's climate pro- glam,Wo de Boer, said it would be “like jumping out of a plane and being assured that you are going to get a parachute on the way down". PUBLISHER Ian Proudfoot 6290 Main St. Stouflville, ON. L4A lG7 www.mkregonmm I All is not lost, though. There may be little time before the decisive Copenha- gen conferenoe in December, but counâ€" tries can still work to solve the climate crisis. A 620 meeting in Pittsburgh in Sep- tember is expected to result in financial commitments for developing countries to adapt to climate change and tackle emissions. Three more UN negotiations are scheduled before Copenhagen. The discouraging part is Canada’s interpretation of the G8 commitments. The ink wasn’t yet dry on the final agree- ment at L'Aquila when Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Canada did not have to change its position to meet the two degree commitment. \Mth the longest marine coastline of any country and an economy that still depends on climateâ€"sensitive activities such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry and tourism, Canada is particularly vul- nerable to global warming. Given that Canada is considered the worst performer in the (38 on climate change and has the weakest2020 target. the minister should take another hard look at the science How can any Canadian leader claim to be working for the future well~being of citizens while stalling on hard targets and deep reductions? Emma IN CHIEF Debora Kelly Busmess MANAGER Robert lazurko DIRECIUR, ADVERTISING, DISTRIBUTION Nicole Fletcher Dunncmn, OPERATIONS Barry Black