C'mon Lethbridge – Let's vote! - Lethbridge Journal

Page 8 - THE JOURNAL - WEEK OF JANUARY 20, 2011
My beef with global warming E-I-E-I-NO!
BUZZ MCEGAN
Buzz Around Town
AROUND TOWN
While housebound recently due to a blizzard
and frigid arctic temperatures that would
B U Z Z M C E G A N
keep a brass monkey indoors, I started thinking
about Global warming. I’ve heard about
the disappearing snows of Kilimanjaro and
the melting icecaps at the North Pole and
thought, maybe this is a good time to start a
little exporting business. Winter has been here
for so long that snow shovelling now comes
with a permanent curse between the two
words. The city of Lethbridge staff in charge
of snow removal say that it’s not just this year
that they have seen a higher demand to clear
streets of snow. The last three years have included
colder, longer winters with more snow
falling and staying for longer stretches at a
time. If the planet is getting hotter Southern
Alberta seems to be bucking the trend.
In December the United Nations held a climate
change conference in Cancun Mexico to
discuss the global warming issue. First off,
why do they hold these conferences in a tropical
resort? Book the Lethbridge Lodge next
January and then tell me it’s getting hotter.
The Canadian government said at the summit
that the best this country can do is to
lower green house gas emissions 20% from
2006 levels by the year 2020. The rest of the
world wants us to do a lot more than that even
though China is belching garbage into the air
like it’s 1901. There is no demarcation line in
the stratosphere. If we are in a blazing greenhouse
we are all in it together. Why pick on
just one country? The U.N. conference also
says global warming is going to devastate the
skiing industry with low level snowfall. Really?
Call 403-380-0607
See our website
for more information
www.beautyinside.ca
New this year:
Mother-Daughter evening
and
Mother-Daughter make over evening
Course Dates
Mondays Feb 7 to May 2
Tuesdays Mar 15 to Jun 7
ages 11 - 17
Castle Mountain had 100 centimetres of the
fluffy stuff in one weekend and an early than
normal start to their season. I’m not poohpoohing
the whole notion of global warming,
but something is going on. But it’s hard to
jump on the band wagon with both feet when
my empirical evidence is contradictory to
what I’m hearing.
What is the biggest thing any single person
can do to help fight Global warming? Drive
a smaller car? reduce electricity use? live off
grid? make your home more energy efficient?
No! According to so-called experts, the greatest
impact you can have in reducing your carbon
footprint is to become a vegetarian. Apparently,
it takes a lot of energy and natural
resources to raise farm animals for food. And
cows, in particular, produce tons of methane
gas, being a major cause of this global warming
problem. Can’t the pharmaceutical companies
develop a bovine beano tablet for cows
to reduce flatulence?
I do eat plants in my salads but I can tell
you right now I will never be a vegetarian.
I love meat. A juicy steak, a succulent pork
chop, slices of medium rare roast beef, baby
back ribs in barbecue sauce, a tender chicken
breast sprinkled with lemon and just a hint of
garlic. Eliminate all that from my diet and replace
it with asparagus twigs and a bowl of
grain? No! I know my diet is not the best
and that red meat does all kinds of bad things
to your body. But if we as humans are living
longer anyway, I’m not sure I want to live
longer if I have to eat tossed salads the whole
time. I have always believed that a balanced
diet means everything in moderation. There
are meals where I’ll go without meat; however
I would still like to have it on the menu.
I want the planet to be a healthier place
for our children and their children to live in;
so here’s my commitment: I won’t drive the
big gas guzzling SUV, I’ll put those silly crazy
straw looking light bulbs in all the sockets, I’ll
spend a fortune to plug all the leaks around the
windows and doors, I’ll keep the heat turned
down and wear three sweaters to bed, I’ll recycle
and sit in the dark and remind myself
I am saving a polar bear. I’ll do my part for
Mother Earth as long as there is a 12-ounce
T-bone steak on the grill when I finish. If I
have to drive a glorified electric golf cart to
get my carbon footprint down from a size 12
to size four, then I will. Don’t ask me to give
up meat.
Just pass me the Alberta beef and a shovel.
I have more #%$@#&* snow to clear.
By Jeff Wiebe
For The Journal
For the Haynes family of Raymond, the
three R’s recently took on a new meaning:
reading, writing, and Robert Munsch. The
Haynes – parents Andrea and Richard, and
children Ayrison, Olea, Eden, and Nathen –
were the lucky winners of the annual Munsch
at Home contest held by ABC Life Literacy
Canada. As part of the contest, families across
the country are encouraged to get together
and write a short story for submission – the
winning family has their story published in a
national magazine and gets a home visit from
the renowned children’s author himself in
January, when he will read the winning story.
“We’re super excited to be able to meet
Robert Munsch and have him come to our
community. It’ll be cool to meet him,” says
Andrea, adding that Munsch will probably also
make an appearance at the Raymond School.
The family also entered the contest last year,
and placed in the finals. Believing they could
better their standing, they wrote another story
and entered again this year. “We were all really
excited – we were very hopeful, because we
knew how we did last year. We thought if we
could be finalists one year, we can do it again
this year.”
As a family, the Haynes developed E-I-E-I-
NO, the tale of a birthday party on Old Mc-
Donald’s farm and the testy chickens who are
horrified to learn of games like Pin the Tail on
the Donkey, Crack the Egg, and Duck, Duck,
Goose. The story will be printed in a spring
2011 issue of Parents Canada magazine,
alongside illustrations by Michael Martchenko,
well known as the illustrator of several Robert
Munsch books.
The Haynes children are homeschooled,
and writing has always been a shared interest
among the family – Ayrison, age 9, has de-
cided he wants to be a writer and has already
begun work on a chapter book.
“We all kind of write, we’re all interested
in it,” explains Andrea, adding that winning
this contest provides encouragement for the
children to continue their passion for writing.
“What we’re trying to do is watch our children,
see the things they’re interested in, and
just provide opportunities for them to take
those ideas and develop them.” Literacy has
always been important to the family, as they
continue to build up their home library and
encourage daily reading and writing. “We do
lots and lots of reading, and expose them to
lots of different kinds of literature. We read to
them every day, and my son is reading like an
animal right now.”
The Munsch at Home contest is part of national
celebrations encouraging Canadians to
participate in Family Literacy Day on Jan. 27.
The day is an annual initiative developed by
ABC Life Literacy Canada to celebrate parents
and children reading and learning together and
to encourage Canadians to spend at least 15
minutes enjoying a learning activity every day.
More than 300,000 Canadians participated in
Family Literacy Day activities with their families
and in their communities last year.
On Friday January 14, Robert Munsch appeared
at the Raymond school to where approximately
2,000 children, parents and community
members enjoyed a visit. Robert
Munsch recited some of his popular stories
and also read the winning Munsch at Home
Contest story, “E-I-E-I-NO!”. Following the
public appearance, the winning family welcomed
Robert Munsch to their home from
where he read to family and friends.
Robert Munsch
Beauty from the Inside Out, a program developed by Renae Peterson has been a 5 year journey to help
young women to find their own voice and to see and feel their own unique beauty - from the Inside out. Most
recently a Mother/Daughter component has been added to the course. After the girls have gained a new
level of knowledge and skills which empower them to stand in their authentic selves; the mothers are invited
for a mother/daughter evening. During the evening, Renae will share some insights into the Mother/Daughter
relationship and offer some ideas on how to create a stronger bond with each other. Then they get to
enjoy some together time at either Catwalk Salon or Brio Salon. The following week, they get a return visit
to the Salons for make-up followed by a professional photo session with Dejourdan’s Photography.