Article July 23, 2007 Issue

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND SELF-IMPROVEMENT WHAT'S THE CONNECTION?

BY LYLE YOUNG

CANADA'S BEST-KNOWN comedian, Rick Mercer, dark humor indicates the gravity of global climate change. The sketch is a mock television commercial in which a man explains the government's new recycling program. He announces that in addition to the curbside collection of glass and plastic in blue boxes, gray boxes for paper, and green for biodegradables, the government is now introducing the white box for the collection of polar bears. Then he proceeds to hoist an expired polar bear into a large white box and wheels it out to the curb for collection, while explaining that pickup of the white box contents will happen on alternate Tuesdays.

Of course, behind this sketch lies the unfortunate truth that the polar bear's habitat is melting away—something that, along with other signs of climate change, is no laughing matter, be it in Canada, in Brazil (which contains most of the Amazon—"the lungs of the world"), or in other countries.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic [man-made] greenhouse gas concentrations." How has it happened that humanity finds itself in this situation?