So here it is, last week of January and out at my ranch 120 km north of Edmonton, the temperature outside is a balmy minus 35 degrees (minus 45 with the wind chill) outside. I on the other hand, am sitting in front of the fireplace contemplating whether or not the environmentalist slogan “Cold Is Cool” has any merit to it.
In reality global warming has made Canada what it is today, literally. Twenty thousand years ago virtually all of Canada was covered by massive ice sheets often kilometres thick, with only pockets of exposed of land here and there. To imagine what Canada’s political and economic would be like if the glaciers had remained, all a person must do is examine the island of Greenland; over 2 million square kilometers, 81 % covered with ice small population, limited accessible resources, a climatic limited tourism season, huge transportation costs and an economy that is largely supported by grants from the Danish government
The truth is Canada has already substantially benefited from global warming already and will continue to do so for many years to come. In this latest round of global warming that began more than 18,000 years ago, Canada has emerged from beneath thousands of metres of ice to become a major economic and social powerhouse in the world. Continue global warming will bring many economic benefits to agriculture, new employment opportunities, and enhanced productivity while minimizing everything negative about living in a cold climate including hypothermia deaths, snow shoveling heart attacks, winter accidents on slippery roads and even some respite from the common cold.
But I digress, it does add some credence why IPCC choose tropical sites like Bali to hold their climate change conferences, because if they held them in Edmonton, the conference would be cancelled due to the cold.
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