JUNE 2005 ISSUE
readers' forum
Why Keep Fiddling While Rome is Burning?
Re: Readers’ Forum global warming submissions.
The March 2005 response to my letter in the February issue by Konstantin Ashkinadze, P.Eng., causes one to muse about what the priests must have been saying to the peasants on Easter Island as their last trees were being cut down and the rats were eating the last of the saplings. However, three of the four letters on the subject of global warming in the May PEGG were wonderfully balanced and reasonable, and dealt very effectively with Mr. Ashkinadze’s arguments, so nothing more needs to be said in this area.
On the other hand, the letter from my old ski buddy, Eric J. Loughead, P.Geol. —Actual Toxic Pollutants Deserve Attention — demands a response.
No, Eric, there has been more than enough talk about global warming and too little action, and so to continually debate this issue is to fiddle while Rome burns. It does not really matter what percentage of the world’s temperature rise is anthropogenic in nature. There is clearly a human contribution to the current high in the long standing temperature cycles based on data well detailed by J. Edward Mathison, P.Geol., in his May submission.
I stand behind my statement that satellite data have shown an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature, but your statement that satellite data showed that tropospheric temperatures have not shown an increase was also correct. These data imply that there is an insulating blanket in the lower atmosphere that is retaining heat at the surface — global greenhouse gases, most likely.
Yes, it has been well established that there was a high in temperatures in the north Atlantic in pre-Industrial Revolution times and that this was followed by a minor ice age. These were localized phenomena, probably related to perturbations in the Mexican current flow, and they do not change the global view.
Even so, we will always be able to find some data sets to suggest that there has been no global warming in contrast to the other several dozen data sets that show that global warming exists. The challenge of science is to exercise rational judgment in these cases and as Richard Eliuk, P.Eng., pointed out, this is the purview of scientists, not engineers.
Let us, by all means, direct efforts to control toxic pollutants. But why not institute a program of non-draconian measures to reduce the use of non-renewable resources with the concomitant effect of reducing GHGs? After all, the preponderance of Nobel laureates and environmental scientists who tell us that we should reduce carbon dioxide emissions might just be correct.
Again, where is the downside?
R. F. (Dick) Wilson , P.Geoph.
Calgary
Anyone Using Ice Ship’s Pykrete?
We at Eco-Nova Productions are currently working on a Sea Hunters television special about the Habbakuk project from the Second World War (featured in the July 2001 PEGG).
In 1942 the Allies were losing the Battle of the Atlantic so badly that they began work and research on an “indestructible ship of ice" which would operate as an aircraft carrier in the Atlantic . A prototype was built at Patricia Lake in Jasper, and much research on the physical properties of ice and “pykrete" (water frozen with wood chips) was carried out at universities in Western Canada , as well as at facilities in Ottawa and Montreal , London , England , and the Brooklyn Polytechnic in New York .
Although the project was cancelled due to positive changes in the war, it was taken very seriously, and a great deal of important research on the engineering properties of ice and pykrete was performed.
We have heard reports that ice and pykrete were later used in the oil and gas, and mining industries as a construction material in the Arctic, and we are looking for anyone who may have more information about this, especially any film, video or photographs that we could use in our program.
We would like to demonstrate that there were practical uses — building roads, airstrips, drilling platforms and support beams — outside of building a 2,000- foot aircraft carrier made of ice.
If you believe you have some information that could help us, please contact us at the below address, or e-mail Lisa Bower, our director of research, at lisa@shipwreckcentral.com.
Thor Henrikson
Eco-Nova Productions
2762 Robie St.
Halifax , NS
B3K 4P2
CPD Violations Like Jaywalking
Each issue of The PEGG has the Registration section near the end.
It lists new members, permit holders and a bunch of other stats on APEGGA.
One part of this report is a little secret that Council doesn't want to explain or justify to the membership. It is the reporting of the members cancelled from the registry for Continuing Professional Development Program violations.
I have watched this go by for some time now. No one has brought this to the attention of the membership or asked for a public accounting by Council, till now.
Council owes the membership an accounting. Firstly, why are such drastic actions taken for a minor offence? Secondly, why are these members removed without an accounting by Council or those acting on their behalf?
I consider a CPD violation on the same level as a jaywalking ticket. Annoying but not very consequential to society overall.
I believe the ancient concept that there is no foul committed if there was no victim. Failing to comply with the CPD has no victim.
I also follow the discipline committee reports. I have yet to read of a case where complying with the CPD would have prevented the incident reported.
So, one could conclude that the CPD has little value in preventing poor practice by the membership. Hence, I equate its violation to jaywalking.
Other offences for which you can be removed from the registry are serious ones reviewed and reported by the discipline committee. Non-payment of fees is the only other offence that isn't through the discipline committee.
In a discipline committee hearing, a member’s actions are scrutinized and then reported to the membership in The PEGG. An accounting has occurred.
The CPD police act in secret and do not account to the membership for their actions as the discipline committee does. This is wrong. Serious actions, like cancelling one from the registry, should not be done without accountability to the membership.
Council, for the last while, has been on its Inclusivity Initiative bandwagon. It is trying to figure out ways to bring more people into APEGGA. This is to prevent persons from practicing outside the APEGGA umbrella.
Thus, I feel Council owes the membership an explanation as to why they are cancelling members for such a minor offence. Explain these contradictory policies. You want to include people of possibly questionable background while removing people who already have proven their eligibility for membership.
I feel that a CPD violation should be no more than a note in your APEGGA file. It should only be relevant should you find yourself before the discipline committee for technical incompetence.
Then, your lack of CPD may be a factor in technical incompetence that the discipline committee factors into its review and decision.
One could even say that this heavy-handedness violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects citizens from unjust punishment for violations of the law. Therefore, Council should review this death sentence for jaywalking.
I truly wonder the value of a program if it needs such a harsh punishment in order for it to be followed. A program of value would be self evident, and therefore following it would be of value to the member.
Dave Kachorowski, P.Eng.
Edmonton
Editor’s Note: For those interested in the full story, please visit the following addresses on the APEGGA website for past PEGG coverage of the CPD Program.
New Section Launched
The PEGG, February 2004
www.apegga.org/members/Publications/peggs/
Web02-04/newsection.htm
Members Struck for Failing to Comply with CPD Program
The PEGG, January 2004
www.apegga.org/whatsnew/peggs/Web01-04/pdf/cpd.pdf
ERB Enforces Mandatory Professional Development
The PEGG, July 2003
www.apegga.org/whatsnew/peggs/Web07-03/mandatory.htm
Continuing Professional Development: Removing the Confusion
The PEGG, January 2003
www.apegga.org/whatsnew/peggs/Web01-03/profdev.htm
CPD Delinquents Risk Suspension
The PEGG, January 2001
www.apegga.org/members/Publications/peggs/ Web12-00/briefs.htm
What’s
Meant By Sustainability?
Sustainability involves a method, a way of thinking, a policy that provides for the future. Sustainability is difficult to maintain because resources are mostly finite, because our population worldwide is increasing and because we think in terms of short periods of time, and so are not inclined to make our long-term future secure.
Nature has provided us with examples of sustainability. Water recycles itself. Photosynthesis replenishes the oxygen that we need. Reproductive forces, urges, tendencies are strong in everything that lives.
Engineers think in measurable terms, of inventions and constructions that can improve human life. Yet nature follows its own laws and will not be fully tamed by mere engineers. To us, as professionals, nature provides a challenge that requires us to become more professional, more aware and better educated.
Engineers are already doing something. We can take the initiative to find new sources of energy such as heating air underground, and we can improve the internal combustion engine, which wastes 75 per cent of the fuel we go to such lengths to obtain.
For other resources, we can mine more efficiently. We can recycle more efficiently by improving our waste collection and spending some time recovering value from trash. We can design and manufacture goods in such a manner that when the goods have worn out, the components can be re-used.
And to prevent the “mining” of renewable resources, we can take the initiative to plan and monitor renewal to ensure adequate replenishment.
As for mindset, our initiative should be to leave the premises in better condition than we found it. In the spirit of the Iron Ring tradition, sustainability requires a dedicated commitment from us all.
Henry A. Spencer, P.Eng.
Edmonton