A Climate of Change | expert analysis of our current environment leading to UNFCCC COP21, Paris 2015

• Report rights infringement
• published: 31 Mar 2014
• views: 29988

Join the movement and stay up to date by visiting: http://www.indigochildfilms.org/ Watch this documentary and learn from a selection of Canada's foremost Climate Scientists as they discuss their research relating to our changing planet. Dr. Kimberley Strong (U of T) explains how we can see CO2 emissions traveling from their source around the world. Dr. John Smol (Queen's) recounts the decades of years spent in the arctic watching ancient ponds evaporate before his eyes. Dr. Richard Peltier (U of T) gives a thorough explanation of sea level rise through melting land ice, glacial isostatic adjustment, and plate tectonics. Dr. Rich Petrone (Waterloo) accounts for the importance of forest systems and peatlands, then gives us an ominous warning about CO2 emissions. Dr. Jason Gerhard (Western) explains the importance of groundwater and the danger and realities of contamination. Dr. Gordon McBean and Dr. Slobodan Simonovic (Western) outline the dangers of flooding and the probability of extreme weather events. Dr. Sean Kheraj (York) provides a historical look at Canada's environmental history in the distant and recent past. Dr. Jennifer Lynes, Dr. Johanna Wandel (Waterloo) and Dr. Manuel Riemer (Wilfrid Laurier) hint at solutions to this problem going forward. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is not enough to know the data and pat ourselves on the back. Year by year we see the evidence mount and the dots interconnect on a global scale, but knowledge is not power unless it is applied in a productive way. We are past the point where climate change can be reversed and (more importantly) we are capable as individuals and as a species to adapt to the inevitable shift in climate and reduce the possible impacts through sustainable practices. Understanding climate science means also understanding your own emissions, and therefore your complicity in the destruction of our environment and ecosystems. When faced with such harsh truths it's easier to seek the inner safety of apathy. The idea is: if I don't care it can't hurt me. We choose not to think about something distressing because it almost feels like it doesn't exist, but like a smoker trying not to cough in the morning: one clear breath doesn't mean the lungs are healthy. Our climate does not discriminate; everyone is and will continue to feel its effects. The cure for apathy is empowerment. Human beings are designed to care about things. We only stop caring when we feel that we are powerless.