Letter to the editor of the Toronto Star

Date: January 2, 2007

Subject: Civilizations thrive in warm periods

Re: Editorial cartoon, Dec. 31

In Patrick Corrigan's editorial cartoon the old man of 2006 asks whether anything could be worse than global warming to look forward to.  The wiser-than-his-years 2007 baby responds “Elections!”

That global warming and elections shared the spotlight in Corrigan's cartoon is quite appropriate. Unpleasant though they may be at times, the alternative to elections, namely dictatorship, has been responsible for untold human suffering.  Similarly, the alternative to global warming, namely global cooling, has resulted in poverty, famine, pestilence and war.  Civilizations flourish in warm periods.  Climate is never constant so, given the choice, I would pick warming over cooling any day, just as I would chose elections over dictatorship.

While most in authority will admit to the benefits of elections, few acknowledge the advantages of warming.  For example, in April 2002, while working in the House of Commons, I attended a presentation to MP's by Dr. Robert Watson, then chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  He showed MPs, then in the midst of the intense Kyoto Protocol ratification debate, a map of forecast world biological productivity decades into the future.  Watson highlighted the negative effects of warming but glossed over a minor detail he seemed to be hoping MPs would not notice, namely that, according to his own map, overall productivity in Canada would rise in a warming world.  I raised the point, much to Watson's dismay.

Whether humans are significantly contributing to global warming or not (the scientists with whom NRSP works think not), we need to look at the benefits of warming, not just its down side.  The warmer than usual December just experienced in Ontario provides a sample of what to expect: generally safer and more efficient driving, lower road maintenance and heating fuel costs and a decrease in consequent air pollution emissions.  Who could oppose that?

Tom Harris , Executive Director, Natural Resources Stewardship Project, Ottawa