The point of no return

It is as cold as a ‘you know what’. That’s right: we are into a cold spell right now in Northern Ontario and even in the south. However, this winter is very warm compared to past years. The winter ice road to Attawapiskat just recently opened and it looks like it won’t last all that long.
Still, minus 20 and 30 below zero days and nights are still being experienced in the far north of Ontario although that is getting more and more rare. I recall many days at minus 40 below zero when I was a boy back home up the James Bay coast. That was normal back then.
It is obvious that the weather is changing up north and it is happening fast. Elders tell me that they have never seen such warm winters in their lifetimes. They worry about the affect these temperatures will have on the animals, birds and environment. From what I understand they have good reason to worry. The bulk of the world’s leading scientists and experts on weather and the environment are warning that our continued pollution of the skies with carbon dioxide is causing global warming.
A very few scientists who are mainly employed by big business have been trying to convince the public that global warming does not exist to a great degree and that this warming period is a natural part of weather cycles on our planet. They argue that our pollution of the earth with fossils fuels is not the real problem behind global warming. They are paid a lot of money to put these lies forward. However, we the public are in general naive and many of us think these paid lobbyists have a point. The only real point they have is on the top of their heads.
Industry has spent a lot of money trying to discredit people like Al Gore, David Suzuki and a host of prominent scientists who really do care about our planet and future generations of life on earth. Sadly, this has worked to a great degree and some people are buying into the fact that we can allow ourselves to conduct business as usual and ignore the warnings of weather experts world wide without regard to consideration of future generations.
I have read about the same type of lobbying when worldwide medical experts began to release information from research about cigarette smoking being dangerous to one’s health. The industry hired a bunch of lobbyists and their own scientists to try to discredit the findings of doctors and researchers around the world. However, it soon became obvious with so many smokers dying of lung cancer that the health warnings from our watchful doctors and specialists was right. However, incredibly the industry fought on tooth and nail at the expense of many lives.
Instead of leading the brave charge to fight global warming by lowering carbon dioxide pollution, Canada has bowed to the bidding of big business by leaving the Kyoto Accord and moving ahead with fossil burning fuels as though there was no tomorrow. Aboriginal people here in Canada consider global warming as a reality. Our Elders are very worried that we as the human race are on a crash course with nature. We are not being respectful to the air, water, plant and animal life and they say we will pay for it in the end.
It is sad to think that we are in a position to make changes that will help our planet but for the almighty dollar we are ready to sell it all. The entire green, conservation and environmental movement is under attack. That is simply wrong and we should be supporting those who care for our planet and our future generations. It won’t matter how much money some rich one percenter made out of an industrial initiative if we can’t breath the air or drink the water a hundred years from now.
So, I am enjoying this little cold snap this winter. I am thinking back to those past winters that were long and cold when my Elders went out onto the frozen land to hunt and fish. Things have sure changed and it looks like we are heading down a very slippery slope where we might soon find the point of no return.