Monday, September 22, 2014

Listening to the wisdom of Dave Philips


Linda Wallace and Dave Phillips photo by Barry Wallace


My wife Linda and I had the pleasure, along with 75 other supporters of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, of meeting and listening to Dave Phillips, Senior Climatologist with Environment Canada, on board the Serendipity Princess, on Lake Simcoe's Kempenfelt Bay at Barrie, on Thursday evening, September 18th.   Dave's combined address and photo presentation was entitled "Science Behind the Weather".   The occasion was the first of a new series of NCC events entitled Nature Talks.   Dave covered the subject at hand in a broad but comprehensive manner and it was no surprise that global warming and climate change figured prominently in his formal presentation and in the speaker/audience exchange that followed.   He made a number of references to the Nature Conservancy's stewardship of the Happy Valley Forest in King Township.  I had never met Dave Phillips before but was quite familiar with his style through hundreds of sound bites I had heard of him over the years.   On Thursday evening however, I was captivated to hear the man speak at length with great clarity, intelligence, passion and even humour about matters that are reshaping our world, our country, our neighbourhoods and our backyards.   I have new respect for this man and I am grateful for his enhancing my understanding of both the threats to our physical world and the best-scenario solutions.   He ended his message by saying we cannot go back, that the world has changed irrevocably, but there is hope and opportunity to intelligently and compassionately adjust and modify our behaviour on planet Earth.

Please comment if you wish.
Barry Wallace      

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