Mark Walker’s piece, “Green initiatives a waste of energy” (Western News Feb. 8) is about four things.
First, Walker’s piece it is about the cost of expensive B.C. Liberal government bungling on climate initiatives.
Second, Walker’s piece is about an unlikely improvement with an NDP government.
Third, Walker’s piece is about “the politically driven fraud of climate change” that drives government bungling.
Fourth, though not on purpose, Walker’s piece is about the folly of whistling in the dark.
“The global temperature has not risen in 16 years,” Walker quips.
A century-long table of temperature rise will dip, but a chilly day in July doth not a global ‘cool off’ make.
Continuing work by responsible scientists shows that government inaction here or elsewhere in the world is really about measures too little and most likely too late.
Some slight remediation of the effects of global warming is in the works through things like the Western Climate Initiative, the B.C. carbon tax and any number of piecemeal initiatives around the globe. Canada’s failures on climate change, from Kyoto to Copenhagen, and especially in our tar sands is a scandal.
Where responsible government moves to improve future prospects, companies can feel unfairly pressured, as with Northern Gateway, and ordinary folk may feel out of pocket as in the case of rising fuel and power rates.
Responsible government should constrain, conserve and abandon fossil fuels while funding energy alternatives.
Using figures for B.C.’s projected power needs to 2016, Global Energy Concepts of Seattle studied the potential wind, small run-of-river hydro and geothermal renewable generation in B.C. and found more than ample recourse in our coming needs. Small run-of-river hydro 46 per cent; wind 30 per cent; geothermal 90 per cent.
There is no mistake that in making us more and more resilient to the effects of climate change will put us out of pocket and cause strain in the struggle, but it is this work from government that is most sorely needed.
Dave Cursons
Cawston
