Feb. 23, 2009
A raging blizzard may not have been the best example of how global warming is changing the Maritimes, but it's what Carl Duivenvoorden had to deal with last week during his trip to the Miramichi.
Duivenvoorden was in Millerton to present the An Inconvenient Truth slideshow on global warming Thursday and followed it up with a presentation tailored for Maritime audiences during a supper that night at Millerton Elementary and Junior High School.
As snow blanketed the cars in the school's parking lot, Duivenvoorden said he often hears from people who say our winters don't seem to be any warmer than normal.
"Maybe we're forgetting what normal is."
About 80 people braved the blowing snow to eat a turkey dinner and listen to Duivenvoorden talk about the effects climate change could have on their home province.
Although not everyone watched his slideshow as they ate, a few heads popped up and shook in disbelief as he talked about growing human consumption throughout the world and the effects we're having on our planet.
To prove Canadians are contributing to the problem of global warming, Duivenvoorden brought up a slide showing the different levels of per capita carbon emissions for several countries.
The U.S. had the highest numbers, but Canada wasn't far behind.
"That's not a very comfortable place to be a leader is it?" he asked the crowd.
In another slide, he showed a map of the Maritimes with its familiar coastlines, but overlaid on top of them were spots showing large areas that could be affected by rising sea levels.
"If we think climate change is something that will just affect poor people in other countries. We need to rethink that," he said.
The weather wasn't the only thing not cooperating as a computer glitch sent his presentation into overdrive, flipping through the slides too fast for anyone to read them.
Duivenvoorden joked with the crowd as he waited for his computer to restart.
"I'm thinking it would be a good time for dessert."
While she waited for the presentation to start again, Nancy Gerrish said she was interested in the talk, but she watches TV shows that talk about the same issues as Duivenvoorden so there wasn't much new information in it for her.
"I've known pretty much what he's talking about it."
And although she doesn't have any grandchildren yet, Gerrish said it's important to do something about the environment for the younger generation.
"It's surely not for us."
After about a 10-minute interruption and an unsuccessful switch to a different computer, Duivenvoorden eventually found the problem and continued on with the show.
Once things were back on track, he said it was encouraging to see President Barack Obama in Ottawa with Prime Minister Stephen Harper that day and added he was sure they talked about climate change.
"I'm a little disappointed leadership in our country comes from south of the border."
After the presentation, Duivenvoorden said he hopes his presentations help move a few people to take action on the issue of global warming.
"I hope I create in all my audience a sense of urgency."
But despite the overwhelming evidence out there about global warming, people don't like to change and sometimes find reasons not to, he said.
"I present the facts as I see them. I can't understand why they wouldn't believe."
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