Climate solutions do exist
Re Ford and Trudeau trade shots on climate change plans, Dec. 8
We are now in crisis mode with the environment. Our government’s pathetic attempt at reducing global warming has not been of any use.
Punishing people with taxes because they need to get around or want to keep themselves warm in the winter is no solution at all. Good riddance to the cap and trade — or “pay up and pollute all you want” — initiative.
We need real scientific solutions, such as forcing builders to make homes and buildings more energy efficient and sustainable. We need clean energy for transportation and home heating. Also, we must protect and expand our green spaces and plant more trees, which absorb CO2.
There are solutions out there. It just takes some genuine government involvement to get things moving in that direction. If the oil companies are holding us back, they must be ignored. The clean energy sector can create jobs, too. The planet and our very lives depend on it. Jane White, Scarborough
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals should pay attention to the riots happening in France. The people are revolting against carbon taxes, open immigration and the arrogance of the progressive socialist government forcing their ideology on the population.
Canada, which contributes less that 1.6 per cent of overall greenhouse gases, is being forced to pay carbon taxes while China opens a new coalfired generating plant every week.
If you support the climate change theory, you should stop driving a car, stop using carbon-based electricity, and stop using anything that is made of carbon. If you support open immigration, you should welcome and support an immigrant in your home.
The carbon tax and open immigration should be voluntary and those who support it should pay. The progressives are hypocrites and never walk the talk.
When we have finally had enough, the yellow vests in Canada will stand up to Trudeau and his politically correct progressive elites. Earl Hyde, Brantford
Conservatives calling for an apology from Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner for equating the “rallying of troops” to fight climate change with the rallying of troops at Dunkirk is just another example of over-the-top political bluster from a party beginning to realize that many Ontarians who voted for them are now, like U.K. Brexit voters, experiencing severe voter remorse.
The Dunkirk analogy, far from being disrespectful, is entirely appropriate in the context of the greatest threat our planet is experiencing. Unless ordinary people like us rally against the climate change deniers in both the federal and provincial Conservative parties, we are marching toward climate catastrophe.
To paraphrase a well-known expression, “While Conservatives fiddle, the planet burns!” Bravo to our Guelph MPP. Maggie Laidlaw, Guelph
Doug Ford complaining that the federal government is being unfair by “moving the goal posts” on committed reductions to greenhouse gas emissions is pathetic. The feds did no such thing. It was Ford’s government that recently decided to scale back Ontario’s commitments.
This “goal post” talk reflects Ford’s view that this is all some sort of political game, when it is actually about the preservation of Earth and life itself.
Science tells us that the goal posts of catastrophic climate change have already been cemented in place via human greed, and the politicians who prioritize corporate profit over public good keep us hurtling toward these posts at breakneck speed.
If you want to talk about unfair, try living in a world where someone as ignorant as Ford can somehow rise to political power. Joel Maziarski, Toronto
Re Climate fears are real, so oilsands must close, Walkom, Dec. 5
Thank you to Thomas Walkom for this thoughtful column.
There is a growing movement of young people calling for climate action and environmental justice, through school strikes, sit-ins and a recent lawsuit in Quebec against the federal government’s failure to take meaningful action.
Parents and teachers want the best for our children. But we are busy and anxious providing what they need to thrive now, so it’s hard to look to the future at something over which we seem to have so little control.
As a new parent, there is nothing I want more than for my daughter to grow up in a stable climate, not only for herself.
And I don’t want her to have the weight of knowing that children in other places are facing hunger, flooding or displacement because we didn’t act.
If we come together in solidarity with the youth, we have power. In Canada, we can lead the way to the rapid and intense climate action the planet needs.
No new fossil-fuel infrastructure. We need high and rising carbon taxes returned to the taxpayers and intense investment in green infrastructure, jobs and social justice infrastructure. Rebecca Weigand, Toronto
Re France’s yellow vests and the tarsands of Alberta, Salutin, Dec. 7
Rick Salutin is right to mention the urgent needs of both saving the planet from ruinous climate change and putting the next meal on the table.
Although a carbon tax can help with the former it does nothing for the latter, as the yellow vests are saying so clearly.
But we can address both needs by returning the proceeds of the carbon tax to households to help them pay for the transition to a low-carbon economy.
British Columbia did this 10 years ago. The federal Liberals have finally seen the light. Even U.S. Republicans and Democrats have seen it, with the introduction of the bipartisan energy innovation and carbon dividend act.
President Macron: pay attention. Doug Pritchard, Toronto