What climate change means for the world

Right now, it’s early February, and we’re on track to have the warmest winter ever recorded in Canada. As that article explains, this is due to Arctic air patterns differing significantly from the norm, preventing cold air from moving south. Is it a fluke? Or is it just part of a great shift in the Earth’s climate that we’re currently watching unfold? No one can really answer that for sure, and I’m certainly not qualified to give any kind of scientific opinion on the subject (and the people who are will probably need to sift through the data for quite a while before answering with any kind of certainty). To my mind, though, the latter scenario seems far more likely, and the amount of “weird” weather we encounter on an annual basis will probably only increase.

I’m often amongst the first to caution against mistaking weather for climate. The difference being that weather describes what is happening outside at any given point in time, while climate is all about long-term trends in the weather. So when we talk about climate change, we’re really talking about how the weather will shift and become different across months and years. This means that it’s too early to tell if the past year or so is indicative of anything long-term, but the initial signs are certainly a bit distressing.

Here’s a quick visual to illustrate what I mean:

Map displaying abnormal precipitation across the United States. Source: NOAA

This map shows where precipitation in the United States deviated significantly from normal, with blue and purple representing abnormally wet years, and red and orange representing dry seasons. A quick visual scan is enough to see that a massive percentage of the United States had very abnormal precipitation, with at least half the country experiencing fairly major differences. A draught stretched across the Midwest and southwestern United States, while the northeastern States and the Plains had very wet years. Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest featured dry years and wet years, nearly side-by-side to one another.

But what does all this mean? To put it simply, global climate change is about much, much more than the world simply becoming warmer. The Earth’s climate is shifting and changing much more rapidly than it ever has in the past, and with that comes unpredictable weather. Many people still seem to think that climate change simply means that winter will become warmer and easier, and while that’s certainly true this year, it’s important to remember that there will be other effects as well. If there’s one good thing about the kind of year we’re having—fluke or no—it’s that it should convince a few more people that something is seriously wrong with this planet. And that faster we try to fix it, the better.

Regional transit in the Niagara Peninsula

I came across this article in the St. Catharine Standard last week, and it’s been on my mind since then. In the fall, when I first moved to the area, the Regional Municipality of Niagara introduced a regional transit system, which runs between the major urban areas in the region: St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland, Port Colbourne, and Fort Erie. In theory, it seems like the perfect place for such a system, as these five cities contain a total of approximately 313,000 people, including over 30,000 post-secondary students. But the buses are extremely quiet, and I’ve seen some criticism on the Internet that the system is just a waste of money. So what to do? Does it make sense to continue throwing money into a regional transit system that has seen very slow ridership growth? If you know me, you may not be surprised to learn my answer is “yes.”

Niagara Region Transit route map

The problem with creating a new transit system is that it requires time to become popular. It’s nearly impossible to have a new network become instantly successful, especially in an area that’s dominated by automobile transport like the Niagara Region. So it’s not really any great shock to me that ridership growth has been slow.

But that still leaves the question of why it’s worth funding a still unpopular system. Well, the first thing to consider is the fact that it’s too easy to try to evaluate transit systems by their profitability, which is the wrong metric. We don’t evaluate publicly funded roads by whether or not they turn a profit (if we did, we’d probably stop building them), so why do it for transit? Especially when you consider the fact that transit, by its nature, will recoup some of its operating costs, while roads will never do so.

A Niagara Region bus. Image courtesy of Niagara At Large (http://niagaraatlarge.com/)

The Region has developed a clean, logical, and attractive system. The population base is there to provide reasonably high levels of ridership. All that remains is to give the system time to develop a good base of regular riders. And if the system loses money for a little while longer, then so be it. It’s an investment, not a business, and it’s important to remember what the difference is. With time, it’s entirely possible that a gradual shift in the way people get around the region will occur, and ideally residents will find  themselves in a position where they can use their cars less. That’s the ideal, and it will only happen if we let it.

Cities, towns, and transportation

This past Friday, I stared an internship as a part of my program at Niagara College. I’ll be working in Grimsby, Ontario, helping to design an active transportation plan for the town. It got me thinking about the role that transportation plays in how cities and towns are designed, so I decided that I should write down some of my thoughts on the matter.

First, the obvious: in Canada and the United States, cities are built with the car in mind. Period. Even urban areas known for their transit, cycling, and pedestrian infrastructure fall into this trap, as they will almost certainly have auto-oriented suburbs. It’s a challenge faced by many cities, which makes Grimsby an interesting example to me.

A little context: Grimsby is a small town of about 24,000 people, on the eastern edge of Hamilton, and squeezed between the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario. The town is bisected on the east-west axis by the Queen Elizabeth Way, and contains a small but pleasant downtown core, as well as a variety of subdivisions, commercial, and industrial zones. A significant percentage of the town’s residents also commute to Hamilton to work.

View Larger Map

So what makes Grimsby an interesting example? Well, it’s small and not particularly dense, but as you can see on the map, it’s relatively compact; the town is about six kilometres from end to end and no more than two kilometres across at any point. In other words, there’s almost nowhere in town that’s not within reasonably easy cycling distance from any other point. It also has a good network of wide arterial routes that can easily be adapted to include physically separated bike lanes.

Beyond all of these points lies some interesting implications, as well. If Grimsby can successfully implement a town-wide cycling and pedestrian plan that reduces the local population’s reliance on private vehicles, then it can be done almost anywhere in North America. Big cities with central urban areas are slowly coming around to creating these kinds of plans, but smaller cities, towns, and suburbs need to get on board as well if we’re going to make any kind of societal shift. Not only would be it be good for the environment, but it would be good for people, too—there’s a solid correlation between cities with happy, healthy citizens and good biking infrastructure.

I’ll try to post updates about the work I’ll be doing in Grimsby throughout the semester when I have the chance. Hopefully this introduction has given you cause to think about how we plan for transportation here in North America.

A study in Sherlocks

This past weekend, the second series of the BBC’s Sherlock ended, which, combined with the recent release of the sequel to the Robert Downey Jr. vehicle Sherlock Holmes, has got me thinking about the various ways that the character has been brought to the screen. With that in mind, I thought I’d compare a few of the different takes on one of the most iconic figures in mystery fiction.

Robert Downey Jr.

Let me get this out of the way first: I’m a big fan of the literary version of Sherlock Holmes, as created by Sir Athur Conan Doyle, so Downey Jr., who plays the version of the character furthest from that of the books, is in a major uphill battle. And while the character does come with the deductive powers that one would expect of Holmes, beyond that, it becomes a little hard to find the original character. This version of Sherlock is almost more of an action hero than a detective, and a well-adjusted one at that. He’s quirky and eccentric, but isn’t an outsider to the same degree that the character usually is. Downey Jr. is good in the role, as you would expect, and there’s a fair bit of fun to be had in the movies, but overall, this take on the character falls a little flat for me.

Benedict Cumberbatch

The star of the aforementioned BBC series Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch (in addition to having one of the most British names in human history) has carved out a fascinating niche as Holmes. The series is unique as it is a modernization of the Sherlock Holmes mythos, set in the present day instead of Victorian London. Holmes frequently uses text messages, and Watson is a veteran of a different Afghan war, but despite all of these changes, the series is remarkably faithful to the spirit of the original stories. Cumberbatch’s Holmes is brilliantly logical, but acerbic and often downright unlikeable. He’s perhaps more uncomfortable in a social setting than the Conan Doyle’s character, but in a way, it’s almost a more realistic take. Holmes is a genius, but is so far ahead of most people (and knows it) that it’s hard for him to integrate well into society. Easily one of the best takes on the character in years.

Jeremy Brett

As far as I’m concerned, Jeremy Brett is still the greatest actor to have ever played the role of Sherlock Holmes. The star of the British adaptation The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which ran from 1984 until 1994, Brett’s take on Holmes was dark and moody, and fit Conan Doyle’s description of the character incredibly well. Brett had a way of carrying himself that made him seem like he was somehow indescribably different from everyone else, appearing manic and energetic at one moment, quiet and thoughtful the next, as in this scene. It also certainly helped that his dark, angular features seemed to emphasize his strange mannerisms. While the series’ adaptations of the original stories were not always perfectly faithful, and indeed might seem somewhat slow-paced to modern viewers, the series is still well-worth watching for Brett’s stunning depiction of the character.

Who am I?

“Who are you?”

It’s a surprisingly difficult question, isn’t it? It seems like the answer is something that would be readily obvious—state your name, what you do, and what you like—but when you get right down to it, it’s much more complicated than that. Especially when you try to put into words, and don’t feel like creating a boring, rambling novel. When it comes right down to it, you’re suddenly forced to make a decision about what sort of person you are in a nutshell.

With all of that said, I suppose I had better provide an answer, or else run the risk of being called out for writing one big cop-out. So if I was to try to describe myself in a broad stroke, I’d have to say that I’m the kind of person who, when confronted with something that interests me, becomes very passionate and driven. If I’m going to commit to something, I do my best to do so fully. I may not always succeed, and I may not always be happy with the final result (or even finish to my satisfaction), but I can always say that I made an effort.

For example, take the program I’m taking right now at Niagara College, a post-graduate certification in Environmental Management and Assessment. It’s the sort of thing that you can’t do in part: the program is demanding, and eats up a lot of your time, but is ultimately rewarding. For me, entering the program required moving halfway across the province, away from the city I’d come to love and call home, and away from my girlfriend and most of my friends. But if you asked me if I’d do it again, the answer would be an unequivocal ”yes.”

I took something of a meandering route to the program. I spent (too) many years completing my undergraduate degree in Geography at the University of Ottawa. Even that was almost an arbitrary choice, coming out of high school and deciding upon it because I’d always liked my geography classes. Thankfully, it turned out that I loved the subject, and became interested in many different aspects of it, especially urban geography and environmental issues. The former even led me to create my first blog, The Ottawa Project, as well as write occasional posts for Spacing Ottawa and Open File.

Of course, writing is the reason why I took so long to finish my BA. During my time at the U of O, I slowly became more and more involved with the Fulcrum, the English student paper. I began as a volunteer, became a paid staff writer, and eventually an editor, spending a year as the Sports Editor and a year as the Executive Editor. And while I eventually decided that journalism, as a career, wasn’t for me, it still left me with a healthy appreciation of the work that the media does, and the power that the written word can have.

Now we come back to Niagara College. These days, it’s incredibly difficult to start a career with just a bachelor’s degree, and it soon became obvious I’d need something else to get more over the top. I happened onto the program almost by chance, and decided to apply almost on a whim. But the more I researched into it, and the more I came to realize that the environment was a field I could get involved in and where I could make a difference, the more it seemed like the best place for me. So I went for it. And I haven’t looked back.

So who am I? After writing all this, I think the best answer for myself and probably for just about everyone out there is: “It’s complicated.”