Falling

Fall is officially here and I can feel it in the mornings when I bike to work. I wear a jacket and gloves to work but usually have them off when I return home. The days are beautiful, though, with wonderfully blue skies and warmth in most afternoons. The weather just seems so screwed up lately. I mean with so much rain and cool days this summer and now beautiful days for the fall. Since it is only day to day weather it’s difficult to judge whether this is global warming or not. Of course Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth shows alarming evidence for warmer summers coming more often but this summer is an aberration that way. But I think it’s only a weird oddity and that Global Warming is going to be an unenviable fact for our children’s and grand children’s lives.
As we’re in an election here in Canada, we’ve been hearing a lot about the environment. I’ve heard a lot of criticism about the proposed carbon tax of the liberals. The NDP and Green’s have similar ideas. I’m not sure about the PC’s but I wouldn’t trust them to follow through anyway. I feel strongly that any avoidance of a carbon tax or pollution penalty is so irresponsible as to be near criminal. There will have to be some kind of economic reckoning soon no matter what we decide. Certainly we will be faced with our children thinking we have been incredibly selfish and shortsighted. I’m positive they’ll be in the midst of having to be make far more devastating sacrifices for our lack of responsibility for our tiny, crowded planet.  So as we move into the season of fall I think about the biblical fall and how, perhaps, it might be actually a prophecy and not an account of the past.  Maybe we’re losing our paradise right now because of our sins of failed stewardship.

29th Annual Speed River Cleanup

This was the first year I have participated in the cleanup of one of our local rivers: the Speed. The event, hosted by OPIRG and sponsored by Meridian, Remax and RLB, was well attended and a lot of fun. The section I was with did the northwest side of the river from the Hanlon Overpass to the sand volleyball courts (the second weir southwest of Edinburgh Rd). This was a kid friendly part of the cleanup and the kids with us seemed to enjoy it very much.
Our biggest finds were a picnic table, truck tire complete with rim, a folding chair and a plastic rug runner. The most interesting critters we saw were two large river snails (with a spiral shell) over 2 inches in diameter each, a painted turtle and a few catfish. There were many crayfish and other critters too.
The event wrapped up with a barbecue and entertainment at McCrae House.
I would certainly do it again and try to drag the Wii kids with me.

Earth Hour

I just signed myself up for Earth Hour. The idea is to agree to turn off your lights for one hour at 8pm March 29, 2008. We live in a world that blazes off light into space and in our houses and businesses where it isn’t needed. I remember the big blackout of August 2003 and how magical that night was. Everyone was looking up at the stars that night, not because there was something special astronomically to look at, because the stars were visible. The great light pollution that we humans generate to turn back something as natural as night. Not many people think about light pollution until a blackout occurs.
I’m going to do my part on March 29th to cut down on the light pollution I’m responsible for and turn off all the electricity I’d normally be using that night. It’s just one hour and I and my family can exist independant of electricity for an hour. In fact, I’m hoping that this will grow in many other hours we turn the electricity off and a different portion of our lives on.

Planet Earth

I borrowed the Planet Earth series from the library and it blew my mind with its stunning visuals, breadth, drama and humour. David Attenborough, who I already thought was the best natural history commentator living on our planet, just gets better and better at his craft. There’s more to this series (at least on the DVD) than the scripted shows… the Diaries that run after each segment and show the difficulty involved in the filming process are just as good, if not better, than the shows themselves. It’s amazing what these photographers have to put themselves through just to get that elusive shot.
And what makes it all fresh is that we are often looking at extremely rare animals, plants and etc. Part of the allure is that this footage may be the last to capture some of these creatures. This isn’t just about biological voyeurism, either, there’s a healthy mix of geology, geography, environmental science and climatology thrown in. A very well rounded mix, actually. And they aren’t sugar-coating any of the predator/prey realities out there: there are wonderful cute animals but also the very real blood and guts.
I will certainly buy this DVD set.