While foreshadowing can be a very useful device when it comes to laying out a novel plot or movie script, we hope the court case related on page 1 is not a harbinger of things to come for the 2017 free pass season within our national parks.
At best, the issue of people riding their bicycles through a herd of bighorn sheep to get photos of themselves smacks of ignorance of their actions in regard to stresses placed on the animals.
At worst, it suggests people are giving no thought to the welfare of our wildlife and, like those caught, charged and fined for leaving garbage out or deliberately feeding wolves or bears to entice them closer for photos, it illustrates a complete disregard for our wildlife – that wildlife are in our parks to merely serve as props for that “photo of a lifetime.”
With many more visitors to Banff expected due to the free passes, possibly more than record numbers would indicate, we hope Parks Canada is braced for an onslaught of those unfamiliar with wildlife and their ways.
Leave the clocks alone
If you’re like the majority of Outlook staff, you’re certainly not looking forward to Sunday’s (March 12) official turning ahead of your clocks as part of Daylight Savings Time.
It’s odd, but so many people find that just that one-hour adjustment twice a year really throws them off. As well, statistics (which can certainly be argued) do tend to suggest that changing our clocks for Daylight Savings Time (DST) results in an at least a short-term increase in traffic collisions, heart attacks, drop-offs in attention span for students and insomnia, among others.
While it can be fun to argue the pros and cons of DST, explanations that it was adopted to save coal in Germany at the time of the First World War, or that farmers needed it to help get their crops off, or that Benjamin Franklin suggested it as a way to save on candle usage as far back as 1784 don’t seem legitimate in 2017.
It’s not like daylight is actually saved – as in a container of some sort that could be cracked open when a person really needed a bit of sun to lighten their life or to counteract a bout of winter SADS (seasonal affective disorder).
This is why we’re in favour of NDP MLA Thomas Dang’s efforts to explore changing the practice – to provide stability for parents, families, employers and working folk.
Dang listened to constituents who, like many, feel our clocks should be left alone. While an online survey on the issue has closed, Albertans are encouraged to contact their MLAs.
And it’s not as though the whole world is on board and Alberta would be a voice in the wilderness against DST. In fact, to our east and west, Saskatchewan never changes its clocks and portions of southern B.C. don’t. Neither region has fallen into economic ruin because DST is ignored.
Odder still is that only some of Australia favours DST and, while most of the U.S. observes it, Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and other small protectorates don’t. Odder still is that, even within Arizona, which doesn’t observe DST, Navajo do on tribal lands. Much of Asia doesn’t bother using it, Iceland doesn’t, while the European Union does, and most of Africa, save Egypt, Libya and Namibia, leave clocks alone.
Generally, a lot of confusion could likely be avoided by simply leaving our clocks alone and we encourage Albertans to contact their MLA – love it or hate it – to settle the issue.
