IanLeTourneau.ca

No, not on my manuscript or anything. It’s the name of the process by which the sun melt holes in the ice, creating black holes for more sun to be absorbed, then more ice to melt. It’s part of global warming. Warning: bleak story alert.

In other news, we had our induction moved to tomorrow. Sherry wanted to give the baby another 24 hours. As of this writing, still no labour has begun. So in all likelihood, the baby will be born tomorrow at the Sturgeon Hospital in St. Albert. I’ll post a photo when we get back and are settled.

I think it says a lot about our culture that we even have to do this: ensure biodiversity.

Think Teflon is the greatest thing since sliced bread?

In North America, it has been widely reported, as many as 95 per cent of all people have traces of the key ingredient in Teflon — PFOA for perfluorooctanoic acid — in their bloodstream. What’s more, this compound, which has been linked (in very high doses) to health and reproductive problems in lab animals, can take decades or longer to be expelled from the body.

It seems that the miracle that creates non-stickiness is chemicals. And not just any chemicals, toxic chemicals. Very toxic chemicals. Won’t anyone think of the polar bears?

And speaking of polar bears, I meant to link to this story a while back. The shockingly stange but true case of the Pizzly / Grolar Bear.

Not as neat as the Eagle Cam (link to previous post), but a good site for information, nonetheless: the Falcon Cam. An initiative of CBC Manitoba and some people from the corporate world with a lot of neat facts, stuff, and even a “Falcon Chick” blog, but a web cam that unfortunately only refreshes every 30 seconds.

The Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project (Manitoba), Shaw and CBC in Manitoba are proud to share with you a very special journey in the life of the peregrine.

Follow the only known pair of nesting peregrine falcons in Winnipeg as they make their home on a downtown high rise.

Also check out: The Peregrine Falcon Recovery Project.

I always really liked Don McKay’s poem, “Identification,” from Birding, or Desire (1983):

Yesterday a hawkish speck
above the cornfield moving
far too fast its where are those
binoculars sharp wings row row row the air above
the Campbell’s bush it

stooped and

vanished

Peregrine

I write it down because

I write it down because of too much sky
because I might have gone on digging the potatoes
never looking up because
I mean to bang this loneliness to speech you
jesus falcon
fix me to my feet and lock me in this
slow sad pocket of awe…

This is very cool. Some guy has a webcam trained 24-7 on an eagle nest. He says if people will just watch this and be awed, then maybe they won’t destroy its habitat. Read about it here. Watch the webcam here. You won’t be dissappointed.

And I didn’t even know until this morning. Maybe if this was more widely known or reported things could change. Take the Ecological Footprint Test. My score:

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 5.4

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 8.8 GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 1.8 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 3 PLANETS.

Ah, and I thought I was doing well. I know I’m doing well so it’s scary to think about others. For instance we put one garbage bag on the curb per week. But next door they put half a dozen per week at least. Im a vegetarian (which is good in this test), but maybe one of the only ones in town. What is everyone else’s footprint? What would W.’s be?

Maybe everyone should be required to take this.

Well, now that we’re back in sunny Alberta and the snow is all gone and the temperature is around 20 everyday, I read this. Looks like I’ll have to buy some sun screen. When are people going to realize and acknowledge how we’ve fucked up the planet?

Oh and in other news, A Complicated Kindness wins Canada Reads. How a bestseller that most of the reading population has already read can be the book that Canada must read is beyond me. It is a good book. Like last year, at least I don’t have to go buy this one either.

This story is depressing. The new government is cutting 40% of funding for information and research into climate change. And I can’t believe this passes as spin:

“If it’s not in the taxpayers’ interest to fund programs that are not effective, then we are not going to,” said Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn.

Apparently the rationale is that they’re going to come up with their own plan. Well, if that’s the case, why cut so fast? why not wait for a new plan before you discard the old plan?

If only they could think beyond the next election, then people 40 years from now won’t be walking around with breathing masks and oxygen cursing them.

This government is a disaster and I hope people are realizing that now.

Here’s a disturbing story from the CBC about Greenland’s melting glaciers. Here’s just one lovely tidbit:

If all of the ice on Greenland melted, it could raise sea levels seven metres. Most researchers say that would take at least 1,000 years, but, they add even half a metre could devastate low-lying countries.

And if anyone’s wondered where I’ve been, well, I’ve been spending the last week at the Banff Centre, working on my second manuscript of poetry. It’s been going quite well. I leave to go back to Athabasca on Sunday.

The only other thing I’ve done is do another editing test for a job I applied for. Let’s hope I get one of them.