Abandon Cynicism All Ye Who Enter Here. . .

After sitting through two days of presentations from some of the world's leading climatologists, ecologists, and fisheries scientists at a recent conference titled Are We Killing the World's Oceans? a person could be forgiven for leaving the deliberations with another question in mind, something like, Why should I bother getting up tomorrow morning?

I'm with Ken Denman, who's with the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis: “If we're all so cynical, then there is no hope,” he said. “I think we have to lay aside our cynicism and be idealists if we really want to see any change happen.”

Real change will have to be driven by hard science and clear thinking. On that point I'm with Andrew Weaver, an outspoken climatologist who was one of the lead authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released in Paris last month: We should treat the eco-alarmists and industry-funded climate-change deniers with the contempt both deserve.

So yes, please, act locally, but now we also have to act globally, and act like grownups.

That's from my Chronicles column this week.

UPDATE: Former Liberal cabinet minister Paul Hellyer says UFO researchers have amassed undeniable evidence that aliens have visited our planet. Due to the distance such spacecrafts would have to travel, UFOs must be equipped with some kind of advanced fuel source or propulsion system. "We need to persuade governments to come clean on what they know," he said.

Can't say you weren't warned.