Melissa Vejins
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 05/00) - At about 4:45 p.m., Monday to Friday, Dr. Anne Gunn sees nothing but exhaust fumes going by her office window.

Gunn, a renewable resources biologist, is seeing the effects of people using remote starters to warm up their vehicle.

Leaving your vehicle running for extended periods of time increases the amount of carbon dioxide emissions.

"None of us would wear a T-shirt saying 'I am ignorant. I don't care.' Well, starting up your car and letting it run needlessly is doing just that," Gunn says.

The territorial government is also concerned about reducing emissions and have released a report calling for an NWT Greenhouse Gas Strategy.

The report shows that the NWT produced 973 kilo- tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 1996, and our emissions are expected to almost double, to 1,650 kilo-tonnes, by 2013.

According to the report, the effects of global warming are already being felt in the North as scientists claim the polar regions of the planet will be the first areas to notice the changes.

The NWT faces challenges because our growth rate is higher than the national average. Our economic growth is difficult to accomplish without increasing territorial greenhouse gas emissions.

Our cold climate and sparse population creates a larger-than-average demand for the transport of goods and space heating, says the report.

Even though most NWT residents cannot control emissions created by industry or from our need to heat our homes, minor changes in our everyday lives will make a big difference.

For example, most people want to feel the same comfort in their vehicles as they do in their homes, so they leave their engines running for up to an hour at a time while they do their shopping.

While it is common knowledge that some older vehicles need to be warmed up before being driven, most new vehicles only need to be warmed up for five or 10 minutes.

And people could really reduce the amount of emissions in the North by leaving their vehicles at home.

"I walk to Old Town and back every lunch hour," says Gunn.