In this day of almost infinite access to information, opinion and opposing points of view, it is often becoming difficult to be certain as to who is telling the truth or spreading information about which they are mistaken.

A case in point is Conrad Black’s column in the Dec 17 issue of the National Post. http://news.nationalpost.com/author/cblacknp?__lsa=68ec-bd77.

In it he asserts that a possible one centigrade degree rise in the world’s temperature in 80 years is not enough to justify environmentally friendly low emission cars, solar paneled roofs, forests of windmills, etc. Certainly if this is the case and a one degree rise has been proven to be insignificant, then who could argue with him.

But on the other hand, I recently saw an item on television purporting to show the dramatic decrease in sea ice around the North Pole which is jeopardizing the polar bears’ effort to find food and may lead to their extinction. Would a one degree centigrade temperature rise cause such a magnitude of melting or not? Both items purport to be telling the truth but one must be wrong, because they are inconsistent.

Neither of these mainstream media assertions contained links to the scientific studies that must surely back up their competing claims. This is happening more and more and so the Cynic in me and many others is asking; Who the hell are we to believe?

Our Canadian Pipeline debate is another example with environmentalists adamant that their view is sacrosanct and that they have the “social licence” to stop all progress no matter the cost, since it is their sacred duty to save mother earth and their actions are above the law. No one wants spills or dangerous overheating of the atmosphere but demanding a complete ban on fossil fuel use is irresponsible nonsense driven by a lack of trust that is being fueled by the glut of misinformation and half-truths bombarding us. 

The public needs to be more demanding that all media back up their claims in order to contain this emotional backwash of suspicion and denial that serves no useful purpose, prevents us from making rational decisions and is causing dangerous rifts in our society.