CBC Manitoba Thinks Nothing Can Be Done About Climate Change! Larry Writes Yet Another Letter-to-the-Editor

Larry Powell

I made what I thought was a reasonable request of CBC Manitoba the other day.

I asked it to start including atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (C02), in its weather casts.

After consulting with John Sauder (CBC photo - r.), their extremely competent "weather guy"(John is Manitoba's only broadcast meteorologist), a CBC spokesperson told me, "no."

Why? Because it might be "inflammatory!"

The CBC further explained that, wind chill factors and UV levels, which they report regularly, were things upon which their listeners/viewers "can actually take some immediate, personal action."

The implication in that response is that there is nothing we can actually do about climate change! That, I found, was the most chilling part of all.

Apparently, we can no longer choose to drive smaller cars, take the bus, live close to work or just visit the Mayan Riviera every other year.

By way of background, I'm someone who realizes that global warming is real, it's happening now, and it's caused by humans. (Note, I did not say I believe in it. Because it is not a matter of belief. It is a matter of fact and science!)

The flood of the century - Red River Valley - 1997. 

We all create too many greenhouse gases through the fossil fuels we burn in the planes, trains, cars, trucks, quads and snow machines we love so much. Those gases, mostly C02, are trapping heat and leading to the warming of our planetary home. This, in turn, is creating climate change, and with it, melting ice caps and glaciers, rising sea levels, droughts, floods, horrendous wildfires and an increase in the frequency and intensity of storms of all kinds - hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, tidal surges, snow, rain hail and ice.

So, if the CBC won't do what I asked, may I be permitted to do it myself?

Atmospheric levels of C02 now hover at about 388 parts per million. Anything above 350 is "not compatible with the planet on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted."

So, who said that? Some radical climate crank?

Not really. It's James Hansen. Hansen works for the Goddard Space Institute at NASA. He happens to be considered Earth's foremost climatologist.

So, do you feel "inflamed?" 

Perhaps you should.