Letter to the Editor
Conserving energy ‘a jolly good idea’

In the last issue of On Campus News, our sustainability co-ordinator exhorted us to conserve energy in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Let me, as an advocate of not just sustained but enhanced scientific literacy, point out that contrary to mendacious eco-celebrities, the compliant in the media, opportunistic politicians and even our latest Whelen lecturer, the carbon dioxide from burning natural gas and coal to provide that heat and electricity, not to mention the gasoline used to drive to, from and around scramble parking lots on campus, will not help get Saskatoon designated an appellation controllée anytime soon. This is because carbon dioxide, breathed in by all plant life on Earth, and breathed out by all animals with and without a backbone, has a very small greenhouse effect by comparison to water vapour.

Moreover, fluctuations in climate—global and regional, short- and long-term—can be demonstrated to be driven by natural variations in such phenomena as ocean currents, orbital parameters and the sun’s output. Humans don’t control those (yet). These truths may be inconvenient to some folks but they are measurable physical, chemical and geological facts, partly predictable and partly not (yet). Come up and see me some time…

Having said that, conserving energy is obviously a jolly good idea since electricity and natural gas cost money! Now a lesson in economics: if we save money on behalf of the Administration, that money could be spent on…Administration! This is a pleasing example of recycling. Not just sustaining Administration but growing it would expand the Hot Air quotient on campus. Whether you stand to benefit from that Hot Air or not, all of you esconced in this greystone ivory tower had better hope and pray that those dumb geologists put down their beer and find more oil and gas to keep, er, sustaining it.

Brian R. Pratt, PhD P.Geo.
Dept. of Geological Sciences