On comparisons

The director of the British Antarctic Survey makes the much-needed comparison between global warming and terrorism, noting that despite the disproportionate amount of attention given to the latter, the dangers of climate change are far greater:

Governments need to fight climate change at least as much as they combat terrorism, said the leader of Britain's environmental research in Antarctica, since a warming climate would be more harmful than any terror attack.

"The impact of terrorism affects hundreds or thousands, or maybe...a million" victims, said Chris Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey. He was in London the day of the July 2005, bombings.

"But the product, probability and impact of climate change is greater," he said in a lecture Monday at the National Research Council in Ottawa.

"And yet one doesn't see a government anywhere putting an equivalent amount of effort into protecting its citizens from that."

It's all the more sad that our current federal government doesn't seem interested in making any effort at all in dealing with the more serious issue. But when even those who have been close to the effects of terrorism can appreciate the greater threat posed by the damage we're doing to our own planet, it should be fairly clear what should be the higher priority for any government truly interested in the well-being of its citizens.