Editor, The Times;
Re: Dennis Peacock’s letter to the editor, Aug. 23: Global Warming, Greyhound, and Calgary Petro Thugs
I must say, Dennis, that one of two things has happened here: either you have been smoking something that isn’t legal in Canada until Oct. 17th or you have been OD-ing on honey! You wrote, “Oh well maybe they can plant some spuds up around the Arctic Circle and transport them down the Northwest Passage, which should be free of ice virtually all year around.”
As far as the planting of spuds is concerned, I strongly advise that you don’t invest a lot of money in growing seed potatoes! As for the Northwest Passage being virtually ice-free year-round, maybe tell that to the boat load of tourists and climate (so-called) scientists who are stranded and waiting for a Canadian ice breaker to come and get the boat out!
Just for the record, the same thing happened to another bunch of fools last year! (We didn’t hear much about those scientific experiments.) Good spin, Dennis, but no comparison to the verbal diarrhea that’s spread by Greenpeace, the Suzuki Foundation, and Al Gore.
I could also add Andrew Weaver; however, he is affiliated with the first group of thieves.
As for fires in California, which includes some desert areas, it’s not uncommon to have summer temperatures in excess of 40C. There are two main reasons for the difference between now and the previous years of severe weather: increased population and high speed internet.
Hills in California used to be covered in sagebrush and cactus; now they have huge subdivisions and multi-million dollar homes. Scrub brush, cactus and wildflowers have been exchanged for tarmac, and natural water courses were channeled into culverts and storm drains.
When the rains come, the fires are exchanged for flooding and mud. With high-speed internet, viewers can see a video of a catastrophe as it’s happening when it has a lot more clout than when you hear about it days later!
Environmental groups and governments are quick to jump on the bandwagon and call this global warming and climate change. I call it poor planning and negligence. Bear in mind, several of the major fires in California were caused by arsonists.
In B.C., the three recent major fire seasons were in 2003, 2017, and 2018. All three years involved a provincial state of emergency. In 2003, the fires of note were the Strawberry Hill fire and the McLure fires between Kamloops and Barriere.
Both fires were human-caused. In 2017, the Ashcroft Reserve fire was human-caused and aided by the ministry’s many back fires that backfired and became the Elephant Hill fire. This was one of the largest fires in B. C. history. The 2018 fires are still burning, but to date the stats say that 25 per cent of them are human-caused.
Suzuki and Gore are very quick to tell you that one of the main causes of climate change is the production and use of fossil fuels. Without batting an eye, they can tell you right down to the kilogram how many tonnes of carbon are produced from fossil fuel.
I’d like Dr. (?) Suzuki to get out his abacus and tell me what the carbon footprint of our 2017 wildfires was. Maybe it should be broken down in to two categories: one from the fire and the other from the fossil fuel used in aviation fuel and heavy equipment, both used in fire suppression.
When he has figured out that formula, he can also analyze the fires in California and the volcanoes in Hawaii and Iceland. After adding all of those up, what is the percentage of carbon produced by fossil fuel?
Jim Lamberton
The Rambling Man
Clearwater, B. C.
