Re: “Voter’s guide to carbon taxes (B.C. Views, Feb. 8).
At a time when addressing climate change is at its most urgent, columnist Tom Fletcher implies that human-caused climate change is “propaganda.”
His views fly in the face of scientific consensus as well as many global organizations, such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
If we don’t rapidly reduce our carbon emissions, we are committing our children and grandchildren to a world with ever more extreme forest fires, drought, severe weather, rising sea levels and ocean acidification. A refugee crisis of an extent never seen before will happen at a time when our world population peaks.
Top economists from around the world tell us a steadily rising price on carbon emissions is the most-effective and least-expensive way to reduce our emissions and de-carbonize our economy.
It isn’t only progressives and “elites” who favour a predictable and rising carbon price. Recently a group of Republican elder statesmen presented a proposal to the White House – The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends – calling for a steadily rising, revenue-neutral carbon tax with the proceeds returned to households.
Avoiding catastrophic climate change will take a global effort, one that British Columbians and Canadians need to be a part of. I want to be able to tell my grandchildren we were proud to have done all we could to make their future secure.
Laura Sacks
Not taking voting advice
Looking at the history of Tom Fletcher’s “opinion” pieces, one sees attacks shored up with misinformation.
He has attacked First Nations’ legitimate concerns for their traditional territories and the potential impact of LNG projects on their most important food source: salmon. He has ignored the fact that those salmon are constitutionally protected.
He states that “even if you accept the propaganda that human-generated CO2 is the sole driver of climate change, when you look at a global context, none of this Canadian posturing matters a damn bit.”
According to former NASA scientist James Hansen, current rates of fossil fuel burning are equivalent to adding 400,000 atomic bombs per day, 365 days a year. How can this have no impact?
Does Fletcher think so little of Canada that he undermines any strides towards leadership in clean energy and a livable future? I won’t look to Fletcher for voting advice.
Dona Grace-Campbell
