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If recent articles are anything to go by, the Daily News is happily printing articles from climate change skeptics. The following letter [unpublished] is a rebuttal to one that appeared last week. --- In her Perspective column, "The Case Against Kyoto" (30 October), Joan Crockatt presents three arguments why Canada should not ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Her points are easily refutable, given her selective use of data and her misunderstanding of the Kyoto Protocol. First, Ms. Crockatt uses the recently announced finding that the Antarctic ozone hold is smaller because of warmer-than-normal temperatures as evidence that the science surrounding Kyoto is "shaky". Ms. Crockatt is confusing ozone depletion and climate change -- the Antarctic ozone hole is a product of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from human sources rather than global warming. Furthermore, Ms. Crockatt overlooks the fact that the warming of the polar regions (both Antarctic and Arctic) is causing significant melting; in the case of the Arctic, it is affecting the Inuit's lifestyle. Second, Ms. Crockatt calls the Kyoto Protocol a "wealth transfer system" because Canada will be forced to purchase emissions credits if we do not meet our emissions targets. This is only partially true. Had she read the Kyoto Protocol, she would be aware that there are two mechanisms that any signatory of the protocol can use to reduce their emissions: JI (or Joint Initiative) and CDM (or Clean Development Mechanism). Both JI and CDM allow countries and industries to gain emissions credits by installing clean energy technologies in other countries. Canada could purchase emissions credits, or it could encourage the development of clean technologies for use both home and abroad. Third, Ms. Crockatt claims that Canada is a "cold country with great distances between cities". True, but many other "cold" countries use considerably less energy for space heating than Canadians do because they use fossil fuels as efficiently as possible; for example, in Denmark, the 'waste' heat from power stations is used for space heating. The "great distances" argument is another red herring, given that very few of us drive our automobiles between cities on a regular basis; in fact, the average Canadian automobile is driven about 50 kilometres a day. --- Larry Hughes, PhD Professor Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 2X4, Canada v: 902.494.3950 f: 902.422.7535 e: larry.hughes@dal.ca u: http://www.dal.ca/~lhughes2 -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- SUST-MAR TIP: subscription management commands go to majordomo@chebucto.ca CBC enviro news-briefs follow: -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- SCIENTISTS CHECKING MERCURY LEVELS OFF FUNDY COAST Researchers are taking samples of hair and getting detailed lists of what people are eating, in an effort to know how much mercury Canadians are exposed to. FULL STORY http://novascotia.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=ns_mercnb20021202 ARR MATEY, THERE'S GOLD NEAR CAPE BRETON! A treasure hunter in Cape Breton says he has discovered a million-dollar find – two 17th-century Spanish treasure ships off the island's east coast. FULL STORY http://novascotia.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=ns_cptrea20021129 © Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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