First Post

Welcome to Environment and Resource Management. This is a very exciting time to be taking this course, because the environment is a very hot topic in the news these days. It seems global warming is on the tip of everyone's tongue.

The conservative party and the liberal party are currently battling it out in the house of commons over who has the worst record on the environment. The conservatives contend that the liberals talked the talk for 7 years, but never actually walked the walk. The liberals, on the other hand, are accusing the conservatives of never even talking the talk!

Last week, over a 1000 scientists congregated in Paris, France as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and released an extremely grim report last Friday, February 2nd. The report states that we, humans, are very likely responsible for the change in our climate, and that climate change is not occuring due to natural circumstances.

The Kyoto protocol is a mere one year away from the beginning of the end of phase 1. Canada is legally bound by the Kyoto protocol to reduce its greenhouse gas emmissions to less than 6% of what they were in 1990. Instead, we are currently sitting at 27% above 1990 levels. What will be the consequences of this?

A report released in November of 2006 predicted that all marine life in the oceans will collapse to extinction by 2048 due to overfishing, pollution, climate change and habitat loss.

On January 17, 2007, scientists moved the 'Doomsday clock' 2 minutes closer to midnight due to the increase in the use of nuclear fuel by countries around the planet. The idea behind the clock is that when the hand strikes twelve, the end will be upon us... by our own doing.

This course will endeavour to do a few things for you. One, teach you about the resources we use on our planet, their importance, and how we manage them. Second, to get you up on the current issues that are occuring even now as you read this. Third, to maybe.... just maybe... get you to consider your lifestyle choices and how they affect the planet, because after all, we're all in this together.

Mr. Holmes