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GLOBAL WARMING AFFECTS HITS HOME IN LONDON

Do you remember the lyrics from Porgy & Bess musical?, "In the good old summer time when the living is easy". Well my friendly, times have certainly changed.. Summers are no longer much fun.. I have to admit that I am looking forward to the Fall and Winter.

On Monday evening June 23th we took a drive down Horton Street. It The temperature was 28 degrees but when you factor in the humidity the humidex reading was approaching 40 . According to the government weather office there is no break in store for Londoners for the hot, hazy, humid weather for the next few days.

As we drove along we saw scores of exhausted people sitting in front of their houses with their doors and windows wide open. There was no respite for the young children and the elderly to be able to cool off; not a whisper of a breeze to alleviate their discomfort.

The poor people living on the fringe in London can not afford air conditioners so they have to plug in their window fans to try and move the hot air around their meager dwellings. Our most vulnerable in society always seem to suffer when nature goes awry.

The Crouch Library has been designated a cooling station with air conditioning and a water fountain. The City of London www.London.ca has placed on their web site places that you can beat the heat. In the East end there is the: the Hamilton Road Senior Center, Boyle Community Center and the Carling Heights Community Center. Drop into your neighborhood library for to see their hours of operation.

In 2007 mankind had the warmest temperatures ever recorded on earth. This summer the experts tell us that we will set new records for heat. For the past decade our planet has been heating up with little hope for change.

Folks, our world has changed with floods. tsunamis, hurricanes & tornados much more frequent occurrences in our environmental disaster package.

Our scientists, the like of London’s own, David Suzuki, has been warning us for many years that we are not going through a natural, normal phenomena that will right itself in due time. The clock is clicking with a decade left to affect positive change before it is too late.

We North Americans, have been polluting the atmosphere with green house gases. Canadians have been throwing out fumes from our cars, factories and homes into the environment hoping that with time they will dissipate.
The oceans/lakes that we have fouled will not again become pristine if we keep on abusing them.

What can we Londoners do to cut down on noxious green house omissions? We can adjust our thermostats to conserve energy. Buy a de-humidifier to take out the moisture from your home. Don’t use the drive through lanes to get your morning coffee. Shut your vehicle off and walk into the take out counter to place your order.

Take & L T C bus to work and leave your gas guzzling eight cylinder S U V at home. Walk/ bike from the suburbs in Maisonville, White Oaks to the mall to do your shopping.

If you want to learn the truth and consequences of global warming you can view U.S. Vice President, Al Gore’s documentary video "An Inconvenient Truth", or click on to the web site: www.climatecrisis.net

Len Lesser

Len Lesser posts a report every week

You can email Len at lenlesser@hotmail.com