MY TAKE: DAVID SUZUKI, DR VICKI BISMILLA, DEAR DIDI, REV TONY ZEKVELD

THE WOMAN WHO DISCOVERED GLOBAL WARMING…IN 1856!

Image of Eunice Foote courtesy RED2030.COM.

BY DAVID SUZUKI

Our book Just Cool It!: The Climate Crisis and What We Can Do features a chapter on climate science history.

We include discoveries by well-known scientific pioneers, from Joseph Fourier’s 1824 research into the atmosphere’s ability to trap heat and Mikhail Budyko’s warnings about burning fossil fuels in the early 1960s to Michael Mann’s more recent hockey stick graph.

French physicist Fourier was credited with discovering that Earth’s atmosphere retains heat that would otherwise be emitted back into space – later known as the “greenhouse effect”.

In 1859, Irish-English scientist John Tyndall began studying the ability of gases like water vapour, carbon dioxide (then called carbonic acid), ozone and hydrocarbons to absorb and transmit radiant heat. A few years later, James Croll observed that dark surfaces like soil, rock and water absorb heat from the sun whereas snow and ice reflect it, which can affect air and ocean currents.

In 1896, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius discovered feedback loops that could accelerate climate change. A year after Arrhenius released his findings, American geologist Thomas Chamberlin examined carbon cycles to understand their connection to other phenomena. Research continued to build. Russian climatologist Budyko published two books in the early 1960s “warning that growing energy use will warm the planet and cause the Arctic ice pack to quickly disappear, contributing to further feedback cycles”.

This list of notable scientists omits an important person: the woman who studied the greenhouse effect several years before Tyndall.

Eunice Foote was a physicist, inventor and women’s rights advocate from Seneca Falls, New York. In 1856, she shared her paper, Circumstances affecting the heat of the sun’s rays, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting.

As described in Smithsonian magazine, “Foote’s paper demonstrated the interactions of the sun’s rays on different gases through a series of experiments using an air pump, four thermometers, and two glass cylinders”. She tested “hydrogen, common air and CO2, all heated after being exposed to the sun”.

The cylinder with CO2 trapped more heat and stayed hot longer. “An atmosphere of that gas would give to our earth a high temperature; and if as some suppose, at one period of its history the air had mixed with it a larger proportion than at present, an increased temperature… must have necessarily resulted,” she wrote – an early connection between atmospheric CO2 and global warming.

Tyndall is often lauded for discovering the effects of small changes in atmospheric gas composition on climate and, indeed, his work contributed greatly to our understanding. But Foote carried out comparable experiments and came to similar conclusions three years earlier.

Why were these men recognized while Foote gets so little credit?

At the time, women didn’t have the same opportunities in science as men. Foote was considered an “amateur,” while Tyndall had a prestigious scientific education and access to equipment, facilities and other experts. Foote didn’t even present her own paper at the AAAS meeting.

“What might Foote have achieved if she had Tyndall’s access to training and resources?” author and Project Drawdown vice-president Katharine Wilkinson wrote in Time.

Foote isn’t the only woman to have been snubbed when it comes to recognition for her contributions to scientific discoveries. Let’s hope that’s changing.

Women inspired my science career, including Silent Spring author and marine scientist Rachel Carson and cytogeneticist Barbara McClintock, whose groundbreaking work on “jumping genes” opened my eyes.

In many scientific fields, especially climate science, more women than ever are making important contributions to knowledge and its communication. We’re all in this together, and we need diverse perspectives to resolve the climate and other ecological crises. Many women around the world understand the need to care for all that sustains us. Beyond heeding and recognizing women’s scientific work, we must also work for women’s rights, education and family-planning resources to stabilize population growth, which contributes to climate disruption and other problems.

Wilkinson explains it well: “Now is the time to champion women and girls who lead on climate. And to honour those who came before, whose insight and ability ought not to have been ignored.”

We can learn from Eunice Foote, an advocate for science and women’s rights. We also promise to include her work in future writing about climate science history.

•  With contributions from David Suzuki Foundation senior editor/writer Ian Hanington. More at davidsuzuki.org. 

Image credit: MATTHEW HENRY from Burst.

GRATITUDE IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

By DR VICKI BISMILLA

It is Spring in Canada and we are all in a heightened state of caution, fear and anxiety over Covid-19. China, Iran and Italy have had horrific  outcomes from the pandemic.

Here at home the numbers are growing daily. We are all isolating ourselves as best we can and maintaining social distance. But essential workers serving the sick and vulnerable continue to work on the frontlines and their families continue to be afraid for their safety. Hugs and kisses among friends are gone for good perhaps. Our cities and towns look like ghost towns. Children can’t play in playgrounds, friends cannot get together and strangely, thousands of people are hoarding toilet paper. Restaurants and other social gathering places are closed. Streets are eerily quiet.

I found myself looking around at this stand-still and very privately, in my own mind, I asked, is this complete stoppage the Universe’s way of beseeching the human species to stop?

Just stop for a while and do some serious rethinking of the way humans are conducting lives on this planet.

Stop the destruction, stop the commercialism, stop the greed, stop the gluttony, stop the hatred, stop the selfishness, stop the divisiveness.

Just stop and think. This intense fear is completely legitimate. Looking at history, the 1918 flu pandemic killed between 50-100 million people worldwide (55,000 in Canada); the 1957 influenza pandemic killed between 1-2 million people worldwide (7000 in Canada); from 1981 to the present, HIV/AIDS has killed 35 million people worldwide and over 26,000 in Canada; in 2003 the SARS outbreak claimed 900 lives worldwide (44 in Canada); and in the 2009 H1N1 flu epidemic the worldwide death count was 18,000 (428 in Canada). So caution, social distancing, sterilizing surfaces, constantly washing our hands are all completely necessary. And there is another phenomenon that has suddenly hit people really hard – the loss of jobs. Closing of businesses has led to tens of thousands of people being laid off. CBC reported that during a single week in mid-March there were 500,000 applications for unemployment benefits where there were 27,000 for the same week last year.

But what we need to remember as we rethink everything is that this unemployment ‘new normal’ is the ‘always normal’ for thousands of people working precarious, part-time or contract jobs. They are constantly awaiting calls to jobs or looking at the rosters and schedules to see if they have work on any particular day so they can buy food, pay rent, see a dentist, afford medication or simply live. Insecurity is their everyday reality. The pandemic, like other pandemics, may eventually leave and people with secure jobs will return to living their comfortable lives. But people working in precarious jobs, many of them essential jobs, will return to lives even more precarious than before the pandemic. The previous provincial government had introduced an income security plan where people struggling in precarious jobs knew that if they couldn’t make ends meet they could at least have a guaranteed income from the government to support their children. But the new government axed that security for the poor and these people’s struggles have doubled during the pandemic.

What is needed is collaboration. It’s so good to see that car parts manufacturers are making health care masks; a sand-moving equipment manufacturing company is making ventilators and life support machinery. It’s good to see airlines lifting Canadians home from afar regardless of what airline their tickets were booked through. We are also seeing some collaboration among a few politicians who are putting Canadians’ needs first. This must continue.

To the doctors, nurses, front line healthcare and EMS workers, cashiers, store staff, sanitation workers and all the tens of thousands of workers across the spectrum who are leaving their homes each day to go to work so we can self isolate in our homes, thank you.

• Dr Vicki Bismilla is a retired Superintendent of Schools and retired college Vice-President, Academic, and Chief Learning Officer. She has authored two books.

DEAR DIDI, how much thought goes into ticking items off a wedding gift registry?

By KULBINDER SARAN CALDWELL

Dear Didi,

My sister-in-law is getting married this year and wedding gifts are being discussed. They are both doing well and don’t really need anything to start their new life. I said I was thinking of donating money in their name to a charity of their choice but my in-laws have come down hard on the idea. They say I am being “cheap” and taking the “easy way out by not putting any thought into buying them a special gift”. How much thought goes into ticking off items on a wedding registry?  – TICKED OFF

In our South Asian culture family weddings are big deals, but it’s also an opportunity for you to challenge some of the norms that don’t sit right with you. Remember, you are getting this from the mother of the bride. She is bound to have some thoughts and opinions on a “special” gift for her baby girl’s big day. Most weddings have become such large, extravagant and expensive events which are full of stress for all the family members. Plus, there is always lots of discussion (gossip!) around who gave what gift and its significance by virtue of size, monetary value and which pieces on the wedding registry was lovingly bought by whom.

It actually takes less thought and consideration to click on a registry link to buy a gift than it does to determine a charity that would be meaningful to your sister-in-law and her husband to support. If you choose not to engage in all the idle gossip and naysayers, then don’t. Discuss it with your husband, stick to your guns and do things your own way. And they will probably thank you at tax time for the charitable receipt (maybe).

I agree with you, with everything that is going on in this world, we really don’t need any more “things” in our lives. It is best for us to take care of ourselves and make sure that our families are healthy and happy... which doesn’t usually come from things but through time and the memories that are made. One of my nephews got married in a destination wedding which was a first for our family. It was an expensive trip and we couldn’t afford it and a gift. So we didn’t end up giving a gift, which they were totally fine with. We went and spent some quality time with the family and enjoyed a beautiful, unique wedding.

Talk to your sister-in-law since that is who you need to make sure is happy with what you give, especially if you have a close relationship with her or even if you are trying to be close.

After all, it is the first day of the rest of their lives so every little bit of support and comfort of knowing that someone really wants to help others and is doing that in your name gives us all a warm and fuzzy feeling inside which is what it is all about!

I may be able to help! Is there something that you wish you could talk to someone about? Email me at Kul@DearDidi.com or follow me on Twitter and Face-book at @Dear Didi_KSC. Want more Dear Didi? Listen to my pod-cast – Generation Immigrant – on all major platforms. Listen, rate, review, repeat. Hope to hear from you soon!

A VIRUS WITH A REMEDY

By REVEREND TONY ZEKVELD

We live in a ‘new normal.’ Compared to one month ago, we live in a very different world; a world of social distancing.

A month ago, we probably wouldn’t have known what ‘social distancing’ meant. But now ‘social distancing’ and ‘self-isolation’ are words in our everyday vocabulary.

The COVID-19 virus has changed the way we live and interact with one another: no chatting with friends over coffee at Tim Hortons, no night-out at the games, no playing in the parks, loss of jobs, school-at-home for children and businesses temporally shut down. The streets are eerily quiet, and so are the skies. On sidewalks, people carrying full bags of groceries wear face masks, There is a heightened sense of fear, even panic.

Attention has now turned to the need for manufacturing protective medical gear for our health professionals. The rates of COVID-19 patients in self-isolation continue to spike.

These are new realities – at least for the time being.

Up until now there is no vaccination nor known cure for this virus. Frantic work is being carried out to develop one.

This leads me to reflect on a far greater, more serious reality. There is a far more deadly virus than COVID-19, and that is the sin-virus. All human beings are infected with it. We are born with it. Apart from a treatment, we have no life with God. We will only die forever. 

Is there a sure remedy for this deadly sin-virus? Yes.

This is why Jesus, the eternal Son of God, came from heaven and became man. He took upon Himself our human flesh, became man like us, except He was without sin. He provided the remedy by taking upon Himself the punishment we deserve for our sin. 

He went into self-isolation on the cross. On the cross, He was totally isolated, dis-fellowshipped from God and from man. On the cross, He took the death sentence for all who trust in Him. This is what Good Friday is about. In Him we find forgiveness, healing, restoration and the promise of life forever.

How do we know? Jesus arose from the dead on the third day, conquering the sin-virus. Death no longer has the last word. The grave no longer has the last word. In Christ, we are cleansed and live forever. All who trust on Him alone for their salvation, He will raise their bodies up to life from the grave! This is what Easter is all about!

What a comforting truth in a time of pestilence!

• Reverend Tony Zekveld can be reached at 416-740-0543 and tzekveld@primus.ca.