Climate Change Conference

WOW!! What a great conference. On October 28 and 29, 2008 we held our climate change conference and it was a resounding success.

Over 160 delegates attended this 2-day conference that focused on adapting to climate change. Whether we like it or not, the fact is that even if we eliminated all GHG producing activities today, the GHGs already in the atmosphere will mean that the world's median temperature will still increase by approximately 2 degrees. And we know that GHGs will not be eliminated tomorrow. So as governments around the world and in Canada come to grips with "mitigation" (ie: reducing levels of GHGs), they must also plan for how we will adapt as a society to climate change. From what I heard at the conference, from the experts, we are 10-15 years behind in developing adaptation measures and policies.

We have posted the speakers' presentations on the conference website. You will also find there the speech from the Ontario Minister of the Environment, John Gerretsen, who addressed the conference on Wednesday morning. We have also added a copy of our Globe & Mail insert on climate change that appeared on October 27, 2008. To see the presentations click here.

In this post I won't go into all the details of the conference (will write some more later), but I did want to underscore my admiration for what the Government of British Columbia is doing on this complex issue. They have taken a holistic approach to climate change are have implemented legislated GHG reduction targets as well as concrete actions to achieve these targets. Graham Whitmarsh from BC presented their action plan at the conference.

We heard from a number of extraordinary speakers throughout the two days. I want to especially thank David Pearson for moderating the two days. Over the next short while we will be developing a report on the conference that will also include recommendations for governments at all levels across Canada. Once the report is finalized we will post it on our site and also send it to governments.

Canadian governments have a key role to play in ensuring that we, as a society, are ready to deal with the impacts of climate change - from health impacts to agricultural changes; from water availability impacts to impacts on our infrastructure; and so on.

Globe Insert

Wow - today (October 27, 2008) IPAC had an insert in the Globe & Mail - a first for us!

The insert was on adapting to climate change and was entitled "A Climate for Action". The insert was 6 pages and includes an article by yours truly (and also my picture - thanks to Dylan for taking my picture) as well as a number of interesting articles. Check it out.

Tomorrow we start our 2 day conference on climate change in Toronto. We have a great lineup of speakers. Look for an update on the conference later on.

CAPAM

Video Blog from the 2008 biennial conference of the Commonwealth Association of Public Administration & Management (CAPAM) in Barbados that took place from October 19-22, 2008. Over 400 delegates from the 53 Commonwealth countries attended the conference whose theme was Achieving Public Sector Excellence.

POLITICS – The Ugly Side

I've been watching the election campaign in the USA with a growing sense of disgust. Disgust at the tone and the ugliness on display. This from a country that espouses democracy and pretends to be morally superior to other countries.

What I am talking about is the vitriolic language used by the McCain-Palin camp and their followers against Barack Obama. There have been numerous episodes where Republican spokespersons have used Senator Obama's middle name (Hussein) to imply that he is not a real American, and to imply that he is Muslim. The other day at a rally in Minnesota, a McCain supporter said that she understood that Senator Obama was “Arab”.

I guess being “accused” of being Muslim or Arab is a negative in American politics. Why is it that in this and age it is still OK to vilify a whole religion and a whole people? I came across a press release by Dr. James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, who has said “Enough is Enough” to this bigotry (read his post here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/john-mccain-i-am-an-arab_b_133884.html ). Bravo Dr. Zogby.

With all the complaints about the increase of negative advertising in Canadian election campaigns, at least we can be thankful that we do not have this kind of disgusting behaviour in Canada.

Still Alive

It has been a long time since my last blog. Sorry about the delay in posting.....It has been a little hectic since I got back from our very successful 2008 Annual Conference in Quebec City.

While we were away at the conference, our offices were repainted and re-carpeted. So everything was in boxes, even the phone was in a plastic bag. IPAC staff who were not at the conference had the "pleasure" of dealing with the paint, the boxes, etc. It all looks great now! I think the carpets were over 10 years old and so was the paint job...so this "refresh" was long overdue. Drop by and see us anytime you are in the 'hood!

Will post some more in the next few days.

African Adventures - Part 1

Here is the first part of my "movie" on my trip to Tanzania in Dec 2006 to attend the AAPAM annual conference

African Adventures - Part 2