The Climate Around Climate Change Is A Changin’: Four Deludedly Optimistic Thoughts
(Apologies to B. Dylan, but I couldn’t just leave a metaphor like that blowing in the wind. Apologies again)
- So, in and among the doom and gloom of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest assessment report (you know, the usual “serious, pervasive and irreversible” effects on humans, the environment and life as we know it) a small glimmer of hope. You see, it turns out that we have until the end of the 21st century to eliminate the emission of greenhouse gases, which is around the time when the most drastic effects of climate change will be seen. Yup…we have until the end of the 21st century, which means if my understanding of calendars and generational mathematics is correct, it’s my great, great grandchildren that really need to worry about this. And, heck, with the smarts kids have these days, I’m sure they’ll be able to come up with something…I mean back when I was a kid, we couldn’t even dream about things like Tweetbook or Facer. Looks like we can all just sit back and relax.
- Just a couple of days after the IPCC issued their latest assessment report, UHN was awarded the Ontario Hospital Association and Canadian Coalition for Green Healthcare’s Energy Efficiency Winners Circle. That means:
- Congratulations everyone! An award like this is only possible through the participation and contributions of everyone at UHN.
- Now that we’ve won, we can just sit back and relax.
- For those who are not up to date on climate news, the other big story was that the United States and China signed a deal to, respectively, reduce and cap greenhouse gas emissions well before the end of the 21st century. Now for those who know what’s what with the climate change what, you’ll know that China and United States are the top two emitters of greenhouse gases, accounting for around 40% of all global emissions, while Canada sits down at a lowly 2%-ish of all emissions. Well, now that the big offenders look like they’re going to clean-up their act, we Canadians can probably just sit back and relax.
- Just a few days before the IPCC issued their latest assessment report, Kady and her crack team of Operation TLC night auditors scattered throughout UHN looking for places where the lights were on but nobody was home. The good news is that we’re doing better than ever at turning off non-essential lights at night…but instead of me using 1,000 words to describe, let me give you a picture.
The even better news? Considering that we’ve really improved at turning off lights, and considering the previous three items…it looks like we can all just sit back and…
-ed 😉
Talkin' Trash With UHN 