I know this isn’t particularly surprising – to really shock I’d need news that someone preached the Gospel in an Anglican cathedral – but here it is anyway:
In a winter when much of Canada has endured frigid temperatures and heavy snowfall, it may be hard for some to take climate change seriously.
But the deep freeze many of us have experienced this winter, said renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, is actually connected to the overall warming of the planet.
“Massive snows are a symptom of climate change. A warmer planet increases the risk of heavy snowfall too,” Hayhoe told about 140 people who gathered on Feb. 19 to hear her speak at St. George’s Cathedral in Kingston, Ont. The diocese of Ontario’s Green Group, with support from the Sisters of Providence of Saint Vincent de Paul organized the event.
In the year 2000, before global warming was surreptitiously renamed “climate change”, in the halcyon days before climategate, Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit of the University of East Anglia, said:
within a few years winter snowfall will become “a very rare and exciting event”
He was speaking of Britain which has been buried in winter snow ever since.
Still, as I remind myself every time I step outside and my nose hairs frost over, even though the science was settled in 2000, it has now resettled and, in its resettling, is telling us that a warming planet is actually making it colder. What could be more obvious: you just have to have faith in the climate scientists. Particularly the ones who lecture in Anglican cathedrals.
What, according to Katharine Hayhoe, must we do?
A small and personal starting point is to measure our carbon footprint and see what changes we can make to reduce it.
Hayhoe flew from Texas to St. George’s Cathedral in Kingston Ontario to deliver that pietism, on an aeroplane that burns four litres of jet fuel per second, placing around two tons of CO2 into the atmosphere per person. And if, as we can only hope, she returns, she will do it all again.
So why should we listen to her?
In my own experience since 1966, winter in today’s Ontario is not as cold as before.
That’s not backed up by the numbers. For Toronto, comparing two years, 1966 and 2014, the maximum temperature was higher in 1966 (35C vs 31C) and the minimum temperature just 1 degree lower (-25C vs -24C.)
In 1960 the minimum was -18C and maximum 34C.
2013 had a minimum of -28C
Perhaps you have acclimatised to the cold.
1960:
1966:
2013:
2014:
Thanks for the information about Toronto temperatures! I only lived in Toronto for ten years. My experience in northern and eastern Ontario is somewhat different. Before my current residence, I lived in Alberta and Newfoundland. Thanks again!
You don’t get it. It’s what WE need to do, not the MCG proponents. It’s just another power trip.