printer2
05-19-2012, 09:35 AM
After being finally given the key's to the car (after years of the equivalent of your lame duck sessions) our right leaning government is finally making changes to match their ideology. Some make sense, some are a little short sighted in my mind. One is to save 2 million on a research facility where about 35 lakes in one area are used as a natural laboratory where pollutants are dumped into the water and the effects are measured.
Scientists from Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institute, and other elite research centres are condemning a decision by the Harper government to shut down a world-class freshwater research program.
A program called the Experimental Lakes Area, a region of 58 lakes near Kenora, Ont., that scientists have used for groundbreaking experiments, will be scrapped as part of federal budget cuts.
Work on the lakes has also led to continent-wide policy shifts on acid rain, changes to the way hydro dams are built, a ban on phosphorus in detergents and huge advancements in the battle against the green algae that fouls Lake Winnipeg beaches every summer.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/appalling-embarrassing-152135585.html
No wondering if the temperature is really changing as with global warming, dump some mercury in the water and check the effect on the ecosystem, nothing happened, dump some more.
The inconvenient thing though is that the research has been used to determine and set limits on the emissions from industry, agriculture, household products. Your regulations on coal-fired power plant emissions coming into effect are the result of experiments performed at this site.
It would be much easier for governments to dispute warnings from scientists if the science did not show a definite cause and effect. Almost seems like a conscious decision to stop pesky scientists from throwing roadblocks in the way of development. After all, all the research does is limit progress.
This summer, ELA staff and researchers from Trent University were slated to begin a new long-term project on the effects of nanoparticles, an emerging multi-billion-dollar technology, on waterways and fish.
Specifically, scientists were planning to add micro-particles of silver, woven now into socks and underwear to kill bacteria, to a lake to measure the effects on the ecology.
Now what is more important, fish or smelly socks?
Scientists from Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institute, and other elite research centres are condemning a decision by the Harper government to shut down a world-class freshwater research program.
A program called the Experimental Lakes Area, a region of 58 lakes near Kenora, Ont., that scientists have used for groundbreaking experiments, will be scrapped as part of federal budget cuts.
Work on the lakes has also led to continent-wide policy shifts on acid rain, changes to the way hydro dams are built, a ban on phosphorus in detergents and huge advancements in the battle against the green algae that fouls Lake Winnipeg beaches every summer.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/appalling-embarrassing-152135585.html
No wondering if the temperature is really changing as with global warming, dump some mercury in the water and check the effect on the ecosystem, nothing happened, dump some more.
The inconvenient thing though is that the research has been used to determine and set limits on the emissions from industry, agriculture, household products. Your regulations on coal-fired power plant emissions coming into effect are the result of experiments performed at this site.
It would be much easier for governments to dispute warnings from scientists if the science did not show a definite cause and effect. Almost seems like a conscious decision to stop pesky scientists from throwing roadblocks in the way of development. After all, all the research does is limit progress.
This summer, ELA staff and researchers from Trent University were slated to begin a new long-term project on the effects of nanoparticles, an emerging multi-billion-dollar technology, on waterways and fish.
Specifically, scientists were planning to add micro-particles of silver, woven now into socks and underwear to kill bacteria, to a lake to measure the effects on the ecology.
Now what is more important, fish or smelly socks?