HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2006-12-06, Page 4Page 4 December 6, 2006 • The Huron Expositor
Opinion
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK 1WO
We've got more
work to a o
to improve our
environmental
marks
While a new report card on the environmental
health of the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Area
shows we're not failures, we're not exactly leading
the class either.
With an average of C for water quality and D for
forest cover throughout most of the ABCA water-
shed - including the region closest to Seaforth - we
obviously have quite a lot more work to do to
improve our environmental practices.
This information 'should come as .no surprise to
municipal leaders.
While Seaforth received high praise from
Communities in Bloom judges over the summer,
two of its three lowest marks fell in the areas of
environmental awareness and forest and urban
tree management.
As well, statistics presented in official -plan
preparations and economic development presenta-
tions as far back as 2002 have shown Huron East's
shortcomings in forest cover and wetlands.
Although 30 per cent forest cover is needed in a
healthy ecosystem, in the Grey and Brussels area,
the forest cover has been estimated at 20.6 and
11.9 per cent, while in McKillop and Tuckersmith,
the forest cover is said to be six and 9.5 per cent.
And while a healthy ecosystem requires 10 per
cent of its land to be wetlands, the Grey and
Brussels area has 6.5 per cent wetlands while
McKillop and Tuckersmith have only .6 and .2 per
cent wetlands.
The good news with any report card is the action
plan that can be .formulated to lead to improve-
ment.
While a newly -elected council can be expected to
take a leadership role, all of us can use this report
card to take action in our own backyards to strive
for a better mark in five years when the next report
card comes out.
Susan Hundertmark
Inconvenient Truth brings
global warming into focus
Ever since I was a child,
I've been hearing about
this thing called global
warming, and how it is a
real problem and poses a
serious threat to the
future of this planet, as
we know it.
Yet, it wasn't until I
recently watched An
Inconvenient Truth - the
documentary that chronicles former U.S. Vice
President Al Gore's ongoing crusade to raise
awareness about our global climate problem -
that I was able to put the issue into perspec-
tive.
And more importantly, I realized that global
warming is not just a problem we're all caus-
ing for future generations, but one many of us
will certainly have to deal with within OUR
lifetime (if we aren't already).
In case you need a quick refresher course
(because I sure did), global warming is caused
by too much carbon dioxide and other gases
being released into the earth's atmosphere.
By burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and
oil and clearing forests, we have dramatically
increased the earth's temperature.
The vast majority of today's scientists
believe global warming not just to be true, but
that human beings are the number one cause
of it.
But, it doesn't take a scientist to see or feel
the results -of global warming.
Glaciers are melting, plants and animals are
being forced from their
habitat and the severity of
storms and droughts is
increasing.
While in just the past
two decades, the earth's
surface temperatures have
increased at a rate sub-
stantially greater than the
average for the past 100
years. Scientists also know
that ocean temperatures are on the rise.
And, the domino effect each of these changes
has on our planet, is far too great to even
begin to touch upon in this column.
Solving global warming on a large scale may
seem insurmountable.
But there are small steps each of us can
take in our every day lives, whibh, if more and
more people become willing to do, could stop
what has been an increasing problem over the
last three decades. •
We can change our regular light bulbs with
compact fluorescent bulbs, which would save
e
150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
We could make sure to keep our tires inflat-
ed properly, which will improve gas mileage
by more -than 3 per cent. Every gallon of gaso-
line saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide
out of the atmosphere.
Or, we can simply plant a tree. One tree will
absorb one ton of carbon dioxide in its life-
time.
Global warming is a real problem. But there
See GLOBAL, Page 10
You know there 'sem STOP
still THREE WHOLE TORTVPING
WEEKS before
MEI
Christmas.
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