Dear editor,
What scientific evidence is needed for us to get serious about our planet’s current state?
-Whales negatively affected by marine traffic and pumped full of chemicals and plastic bags.
-Old-growth forests becoming tree plantations.
-Arctic and South Pacific nations losing their homes due to rise in ocean levels.
-Bleaching (death) of one-third of the planet’s coral reefs.
-Our planet becoming a feedlot for humans in place of natural habitats (As of 2018, the remaining wilderness on planet Earth is 23 per cent)
-Humans are responsible for wiping out 60 per cent of animal populations since 1970. Most scientists believe the world has already begun a sixth mass extinction.
As Canadians, we are often smug about doing a better job than our neighbours to the south in implementing recommendations by scientists. The global pandemic is an excellent example of us respecting and accepting necessary protocols to keep us all healthy and safe. So why can’t we listen to the science about our natural world? One would have to be living in a cave to not hear scientists’ warnings of our ever-increasing climate emergency. Yet we are still moving at a slug’s pace with implementing green infrastructure. Why don’t we start by thinking globally and acting locally and put the climate emergency at the top of our agenda in BC’s upcoming election?
Jane Dunnett,
Comox
