If the Rideau Canal is not open for skating yet, why don't we just rollerblade instead?

 

Bob Millar: Rollerblading, riding bikes, jogging – we are certainly not against physical exercise but if that’s what you’re after, hit the gym or zip around the block. The Carleton Cup is a triathlon – and not just any triathlon but the Ultimate Canadian Triathlon in which you skate, run and drink. This may not seem obvious so I’ll make mention – the Ultimate Canadian part of this race is skating in the nation’s capital under extremely cold temperatures. That’s the deal. That’s what you do. Frankly, if you’re asking why the event can’t change with the climate or why they don’t change it up so it’s not dependent on typical Canadian winter weather then you’re missing the point entirely.

 

Now, I am not making some type of judgment on intellect here. On the contrary – I think it’s fantastic that public awareness to changing weather conditions across the globe has increased so substantially in such a short period of time that it’s on everyone’s mind. I’ll suggest we seem to be close to reaching the 100th monkey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredth_Monkey regarding our impact on the planet. This is great news!

 

More and more people seem to understand that real change will only happen when you get to the heart of the matter and correct the root cause of a problem. We seem to know now that band-aid solutions are just not the way to go - they are a temporary fix. Even politicians and governments that have done their best to keep us a stupid docile workforce and Corporations that have made great riches on the backs of our resources to artificially create what we believe are healthy economies are becoming exposed. We seem to finally be moving towards a majority seeing the truth that our economy is actually so unhealthy that we are killing the planet. What am I on about? Well – rollerblades, I guess. I think they would just be another quick fix. So rather than even suggest such a band-aid… take any energy, time and effort you would have spent in attendance at a Carleton Cup with good cold Canadian weather plus any anger/sadness or animosity you have pent up from the cancellation of the race and use it to help change things at the heart of the problem. Shout it out on Parliament Hill, to your MP, a wasteful company or to your neighbour and wake up to the responsibility you have to yourself, your planet and your successors. In 1990 we recognized Global Warming as the victor of the Carleton Cup so that we would not forget it. I never have.

 

Check out The David Suzuki Foundation - "Play it Cool" campaign for more winter sports/climate change details: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/play_it_cool.asp