Are We Shedding Our True Canadian Id? – theoldfellowgoesrunning

Rising up on a household farm does have it’s distinct benefits and downsides. On one aspect of the coin, on the farm by means of my dad I gained an actual love and appreciation for nature. Which continues to at the present time. On the opposite aspect of the coin we by no means travelled, as we had been at all times tied to the farm. Farming is a 7 day week, 365 day a 12 months life-style. In 22 years of farming, my dad solely bought away in a single day the 12 months earlier than he died of a coronary heart assault at age 47.

We did get away for very brief household excursions although. A day right here, a night there. They'd add as much as perhaps a dozen instances a 12 months. A kind of outings was our church Sunday College picnic held at Oro Seaside park on Lake Simcoe. About 10 miles from dwelling, this was certainly one of our longer “road trips”. The spotlight for me was I bought to go swimming (really I waded out as much as my waist) within the lake. This was my one publicity to being in a lake every year. Lake Simcoe is small, however sufficiently big you couldn’t see the opposite aspect. I couldn’t fathom that a lot water. It at all times blew me away figuring out this lake froze fully over within the winter.

I had the unbelievable expertise of “swimming” in a lake. Wouldn’t or not it's wonderful if I may stroll on the lake when it's frozen? I requested my dad, however I knew what the reply can be even earlier than I requested. Which was a no. If solely there was a manner. I attended a really small nation public college known as W.R. Finest Memorial College. After I was 13 years outdated, whereas in Grade 8 there was a discover that the varsity was going to enter a broomball crew within the Barrie Winter Carnival. The 12 months was 1971. The event was going to be held proper on the lake. I used to be buzzing. This may very well be my ticket to have the ability to stroll on a frozen lake. Regardless of by no means having performed broomball earlier than and even figuring out the principles, it wasn’t that arduous making the crew. As a result of none of my classmates knew the principles or performed broomball earlier than both. If you happen to may maintain a brush you made the crew. It was that straightforward. With me being a hockey goalie, I used to be mechanically chosen for the broomball crew goalie.

Explaining to my dad that being the one one who knew play goalie, and that the crew wanted me, I used to be capable of persuade my dad to drive myself and a few teammates to the event. I had already talked to a different father who would deliver us dwelling on the finish of the day. We performed our hearts out, however bought trounced in each our video games by the larger metropolis colleges who really knew play broomball.

For the remainder of the time we simply frolicked on the ice, taking the carnival in. There was a lot occurring. What blew me away was the ice was holding up all these folks. Plus quite a few autos. This ice needed to be extraordinarily thick to assist all of it. These with effectively padded pockets had been lining up for helicopter rides. The choppers landed and took off proper on the ice. Proper beside the place our broomball video games had been being performed there was a big ice observe. This was the place the motorbike and snowmobile races had been being held.

Giant crowds of individuals had gathered to look at these races. However whilst a 13 12 months outdated I discovered the excessive revving engines uncomfortably loud. Plus the air was thick with the nasty scent of unburnt hydrocarbons from these two stroke engines. It was not a really nice expertise in any respect. I didn’t clue in on the time, however trying again I recalled that any occasion that drew any crowd in any respect at that winter carnival was centred round fossil gas engines. They provided the velocity, noise and scent which individuals craved. Nobody cared about cheering on a bumbling crew of 13 12 months outdated, nation hick, farm raised broom ball gamers, as they valiantly tried to attain one purpose in opposition to the opposition in two video games. However had been unsuccessful. That was my one and solely expertise of attending Barrie Winter Carnival when it was held on the ice.

I discover that the aged live historical past books. A 12 months in the past I performed a funeral a 97 year old who was extremely revered throughout the group. Due to COVID precautions, as a substitute of a go to, I had a protracted telephone chat together with his spouse of 75 years to assemble info for my funeral message. She talked about that as a younger man, her husband Charlie used to work in an ice harvesting crew the place the ice was shipped throughout. This was in a time interval earlier than most individuals owned fridges. Ice harvesting continued as much as as late because the 1950.s. I used to be extraordinarily intrigued. This whetted my thirst to be taught extra.

In performing some analysis. I realized that the ice trade in Barrie was huge. Lake Simcoe ice data have been saved all the best way again to 1852. That is very uncommon for many lakes. Which exhibits how far again the ice harvesting trade goes in Barrie. A July ninth, 2020 article by Ian McInroy in Barrie Today mentions, “The lake ice froze solid and it was an easy harvest. One thing that Lake Simcoe had going for it was its reputation as the purest ice that could be purchased. It was in demand all over Ontario and even into some American states.” There have been a number of ice harvesting corporations. The most important ice-harvesting corporations labored out of Belle Ewart in Innisfil, as a result of there was a spur line for the practice. Ice was packed in sawdust insulated practice automobiles and shipped all the best way to america.

Su Murdoch, a heritage marketing consultant primarily based in Barrie and co-author of the e book “Beautiful Barrie” says “All around the bay there would be ice houses, some of them larger than others. Locally, people cut ice for the same reasons; they needed it for refrigeration. It was just one of those things you had to do. They’d be cutting with a big circular saw and the bigger companies had actual conveyor systems. You’d hook (the block of ice) and load it onto the conveyor and run it to the shoreline. A smaller production would probably be loading it onto a horse-drawn sled and bringing it to shore. The ice houses were obviously big. It’s better to store a lot of ice in one spot because it keeps itself cold.” Su Murdock provides, “It was delivered after being stored in the big warehouses insulated in sawdust. The ice would be stored all through the summer. It was well packed and kept until the next winter when you could get fresh ice.” 

The cool factor about ice harvesting was that it was all pure and absolutely sustainable. The one vitality used was human muscle energy plus feeding a crew of horses. Properties in Canada constructed earlier than electrical energy or refrigeration normally had an unheated room behind the home of what was referred to as a “back kitchen”. That is the place many owners would select to place their ice field or chilly cupboard. In that unheated again kitchen, the ice would last more within the cooler months. These cupboards had been easy, strong and aside from doorways had no shifting components. They had been created as items of furnishings, admired and good-looking, and had been constructed to final generations. Historical past Is Now Journal has an article titled “The Story of Ice Before Home Freezers.” It mentions that the majority cities and cities had a supply man known as “The Iceman.” He would drive in on a horse drawn ice wagon, and easily unload a properly squared piece of ice with ice hooks, haul it into an individual’s dwelling and raise it into the ice field. Within the cooler months in Canada, a block of ice would final a very long time if the ice field was within the again kitchen. It might must be changed extra regularly in the summertime months. It was a neater solution to hold meat and dairy merchandise longer. And to have a pleasant refreshing summer season drink. It certain beat the time it took to protect with canning or salting. The ice bins turned so common that everybody exempt the poorest of households owned one.

As soon as electrical energy and refrigeration turned mainstream, completely good iceboxes had been discarded by the thousands and thousands. There are only a few survivors. And the final remnants of ice harvesting are reveals produced in museums. However I look again at that era with respect. The idea of utilizing chilly temperatures for meals preservation was the identical as we now have at this time. However a lot gentler on our planet. And with out massive energy consumption.

Right this moment the milkman and the iceman are redundant. Whilst late as 1961 there have been nonetheless 1710 locally owned dairies in Ontario alone. As of October 2020, there have been 151 licensed dairy plants working in Ontario. Most of those at the moment are below the umbrella of main firms. Lengthy gone are the neighborhood icemen and milkmen. And the neighborhood Basic Retailer. We reside in a company world. All the things revolves round shareholder wealth and it's nearly inconceivable to get off that company hamster wheel. Stephen Bainbridge, a professor of regulation at U.C.L.A. College of Regulation begins off an article titled “A Duty to Shareholder Value” in New York Occasions with this, “There are many reasons why the law requires corporate directors and managers to pursue long-term, sustainable shareholder wealth maximization in preference to the interests of other stakeholders or society at large, but the most basic one is that managers who are responsible for everyone are responsible to no one.” This explains why firms act socially and ethically irresponsibly in so might circumstances.  And why our planet is being plundered earlier than our eyes. Rob Harrison wrote an article in Moral Client titled, “For Profit Corporations.” One paragraph reads as follows, “They may have been useful in the past, but many corporations – financial corporations particularly – have grown so big as to have slipped the shackles of meaningful regulation. It has long been apparent that, unregulated, they can be dangerous for workers, consumers and communities. It is now becoming clear that they also pose a danger to our democracies and to the biosphere of the planet itself.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change (IPCC) is the UN physique for assessing the science associated to local weather change. In February 2022 they issued a press launch on a report which might be downloaded here. Quoting Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC, “This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction. It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our wellbeing and a healthy planet. Our actions today will shape how people adapt and nature responds to increasing climate risks.” In response to the newest IPCC report on the local weather disaster, António Guterres, Secretary-Basic of the United Nations tweeted on April 5, 2022, “Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels. Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”

Satirically, it was very shortly after the IPCC report that Canada authorised an enormous offshore oil drilling undertaking known as Bay du Nord. It's positioned 500 kilometers northeast of St. Johns, Newfoundland. Subsequent 12 months I’ll be turning 65 and so I’ll be drawing my Canada Pension after paying into it for the previous 47 years. What actually saddens me is that Canada Pension Plan fossil gas investments throughout its complete portfolio have increased from $9.9 billion in 2016 to $11.6 billion in 2020. Plus a 2021 CBC article refers to a brand new report stating the federal authorities dropped near $18 billion in subsidies and different types of monetary assist on the fossil gas trade in 2019. Regardless of the federal Liberals’ said want to maneuver the nation to a post-carbon economic system. In different phrases each my taxes and shortly to be authorities retirement pension are funding the local weather crises.

I actually do being get pleasure from being Canadian. I like the 4 distinct seasons. We now have at all times been recognized for our harsh winters. We're a rustic so outlined by snow and chilly that our cash options polar bears (the toonie), snowy owls (outdated $50 payments) icebreakers (new $50 payments) and ice skaters and hockey gamers (the outdated $5 invoice), After all outside on a frozen lake. There's the spring and fall ritual of spring and fall snow/summer season tire changeover. And our maple syrup is world well-known.

Chilly and snow has at all times been our nationwide Canadian identification. A lot so, after I bike toured Molokai, Hawaii in 2004, a few locals thought all of us lived in igloos and travelled by dogsled. Sadly our winters have gotten a lot milder on account of local weather change. Winter is melting away from Canada. And it’s threatening to take our nationwide identification with it. After my broomball on the lake expertise, the Barrie Winter Carnival continued on into the 1970’s on Kempenfelt Bay on Lake Simcoe. Then someone fell by means of the ice in the course of the Barrie Winter Carnival. It was 5 years after my broomball event. One thing which had by no means occurred like that earlier than in the midst of February. That was it. They by no means had a carnival on the ice since. Barrie now has a Winterfest, however not held on the lake.

Information present that since 1852, Kempenfelt Bay now has one much less month of ice cowl every winter. Brian Ginn, limnologist for the Lake Simcoe Area Conservation Authority, says ice thickness and high quality has additionally been decreasing. From two to a few toes in depth in years previous, to eight inches to 1 foot in recent times. The best way tendencies are headed, there are considerations Lake Simcoe and Kempenfelt Bay may very well be ice free in 20 years. Plus the Nice Lakes, which create their very own main climate techniques.

A NASA web site known as Earth Observatory mentions since 1880 the common international temperature on Earth has elevated by at the very least 1.10° Celsius (1.9° Fahrenheit). The vast majority of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a price of roughly 0.15 to 0.20°C per decade. David Phillips, senior climatologist at Setting Canada says that right here in Canada, we’ve skilled a number of instances that international common enhance. On common, by over 3° C higher. Ian Bruce, local weather change specialist on the David Suzuki Basis in Vancouver says, “As a northern country, we’ve historically been covered in snow and ice, which reflect solar rays. As temperatures get hotter because of greenhouse gas emissions, our ice and snow start to melt. That reveals either dark land or ocean, which absorbs more sunlight. That intensifies the warming even further.”  These warming temperatures imply that pests aren’t killed off by the chilly within the winter like they need to. Which is why the mountain pine beetle is ravaging our western forests. And in my space of Canada, tick infestations like I've by no means seen earlier than. As Earth’s local weather warms, warmth waves have gotten extra frequent and extreme worldwide. The well being risks of maximum warmth have scientists and medical specialists more and more involved. These set off catastrophic local weather occasions reminiscent of uncontrolled forest fires, stronger hurricanes & cyclones and “floods of the century” which at the moment are taking place each 4 or 5 years.

At my crosswalk, or when I'm strolling or working by means of my village, the climate at all times appears to be the massive subject. Particularly on unseasonably heat winter days I’ll hear folks say, “Boy it could stay like this all winter.” I’ll simply smile and say, “I’m glad you’re happy.” However inwardly, I’m cringing. For me, on these type of days I'm experiencing full blown climate anxiety. Peter Kalmus is a NASA Local weather Scientist I've adopted on Twitter (@ClimateHuman) for a number of years. Again in February once we had been in a little bit of a heat spell he shared this tweet, “It kills me when people and the media are like “Isn’t this great, it’s summertime in winter” No it’s NOT nice, it’s horrifying. It’s just like the demise rattle of the livable Earth.” #EndFossilFuels

Our local weather scientists have been issuing warnings for many years. Sadly, solely to be ignored. Wildlife biologist Alan Chornack quotes as saying, “We have tried being unbiased. We have tried being silent. We have tried the policy game. We have tried celebrities. We have tried everything.” The world continues on with enterprise as common. On April 6, 2022, Peter Kalmus and over 1,000 different local weather scientists in 26 international locations risked arrest to warn the world. They've change into that determined. Peter was on the Los Angeles JP Morgan Chase Financial institution, which he quotes, “Which of all the banks of the world is the one that has done the most to fund fossil fuel projects. This latest IPCC Report made it very clear that current and planned fossil fuel infrastructure will take us significantly beyond, two times beyond of the best estimate of what we can still emit and have a coin toss chance of staying under 1.5 degrees of Global Heating.” Peter and three colleagues had been arrested by over 100 Los Angeles riot police. This article titled, “Climate Scientists are Desperate, We’re Crying, Begging and Getting Arrested” is about Peter Kalmus and all the opposite local weather scientists pleas of desperation.

On April 22 is Earth Day. The theme for 2022 is “Invest in Our Planet.” Notably this previous 100 years, our First World society have invested in practices which have raped and plundered our planet. We're leaving nothing for future generations. It's time to flip the web page and begin over and put money into our planet. Quoting off the Earth Day web site, ” The Earth Day 2022 theme is targeted on partaking the greater than 1 billion folks, governments, establishments, and companies who take part in Earth Day to acknowledge our collective duty and to assist speed up the transition to an equitable, affluent inexperienced economic system for all. The purpose of Earth Day’s marketing campaign is to push apart the obstacles erected by the traditional, soiled fossil gas economic system and their co-conspirators. Previous applied sciences of centuries previous and redirect consideration to making a twenty first century economic system that brings again the well being of our planet, protects our species, and supplies alternatives for all.” 

We're dropping our true Canadian identification and we're dropping it quick. We're dropping our winters. However it's greater than that. We're dropping our planet. Will I've to say to my grandkids, “I remember when that lake actually froze in the winter. Sorry for my selfishness. I wish you could have gotten to experience it.” In response to the newest IPCC report, the World Financial Discussion board commented “That any further delay will mean missing a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.” In different phrases, if we don’t act now we're screwed. We have to instantly put money into our planet.

For myself, I've personally lowered my driving in my 2008 Toyota Prius hybrid to below 2,000 kilometers a 12 months. As an ultrarunner I used to run 4 ultras a 12 months. Now that I'm limiting how far I'll drive to run an ultrarace to 60 kilometers, I'm restricted to the 2 closest. Which I've each registered for. Sadly every part related to ultrarunning is automotive dependent in Canada. Different counties are far superior. My Swiss ultrarunning good friend Catrina Denker doesn’t personal a automotive. But she takes the practice to all these thrilling ultraraces and highway races. The race begins and ends proper on the practice station. Or a really brief stroll from the practice station. And the practice ticket is included proper within the registration itself.

As a planet that's in a Local weather Emergency and a Biodiversity Crises we possess the data to redefine our relationship with the planet. The far largest points are human entitlement, greed, our runaway manufacturing, consumption and wasteful habits. This fuels the mindset of revenue in any respect prices for these gigantic firms, even when it means our planet is destroyed within the course of. There's additionally usually the dearth of any ethical or moral compass from our world leaders. We can not resolve a crises till we deal with it like a crises.

Local weather scientists have been pleading for many years to cease our dependency on fossil fuels. Electrical autos have arrived. However they're right here to save lots of the auto trade. To not save the planet. EVs will not be totally non-polluting as you would possibly assume. From the web site Legal Reader, it says “About 80% of electric cars that run on the roads use permanent magnet electric motors and the magnets used in these motors are generally made with rare-Earth metals like Neodymium, Terbium, and Dysprosium. These rare-Earth metals need extensive mining.” Mining as you would possibly know is just not essentially the most environmentally pleasant course of. Plus the Authorized Reader article mentions that “70% of the reserves of these rare earth metals are found in China”

Personally, I do know I needs to be doing extra. I might surrender my hybrid automotive in a heartbeat if there was common public transportation and a protected lively transportation infrastructure in my space. That is a lot decrease hanging fruit than to try to set up the wanted millions of charging stations required if all 18 million fossil gas powered passenger automobiles and pickups plus the tons of of hundreds of business autos in Canada had been to change into electrified. To not point out if we use fossil fuels to energy new electrical energy producing stations to fulfill elevated demand, are we actually any additional forward? Simcoe County does run an everyday bus service known as Linx Transit. The service covers communities to the north, to the south, to the east and to the west. Not me within the center. However for no matter cause, my village of Hillsdale is totally bypassed. And to bike alongside Ontario Provincial Freeway 93 is a demise lure. I've bikes, however by no means experience them. With the variety of distracted and dashing drivers and large tractor trailers I see on a regular basis at my crosswalk on Freeway 93, I do know I take my life in my arms if I had been ever to exit.

I don’t know what the answer is. However the “business as usual” system is simply not working. We desperately want extra local weather activists who're prepared to talk up. Our local weather scientists can’t do it alone. There's energy in numbers. And with sufficient folks letting their voices be heard, hopefully lastly the governments will lastly see the necessity to “Invest in Our Planet”. Blissful Earth Day.?

To be taught extra about local weather change from the local weather scientists themselves, NASA has an especially eye opening web site. The hyperlink is https://climate.nasa.gov/

Some international locations governments are doing excess of others within the struggle in opposition to Local weather Change. How good a job do you discover your authorities? What enhancements do you're feeling your governments must take?

Are there any adjustments you will have made personally within the struggle in opposition to Local weather Change?

Local weather Scientists are determined and pleading. Do you assume the way forward for our planet is as severe as what the local weather scientists are saying?