A new message for bumper stickers

Re. “Desperate measures,” Editorial, Dec. 4

Growing up in Edmonton in the 1980s, I remember seeing bumper stickers declaring, “let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark.”

Nova Scotians have diversified their energy sources. The province is leading the transition to renewable energy. We still have a long way to go before achieving independence from oil and coal, but we know which way the wind is blowing.

For half a century, Albertans profited by selling oil to corporations. The corporations refined it and sold it to the U.S., leaving Alberta with ecological devastation and a swiftly warming planet. They didn’t offer alternatives and the provincial government did not invest in contingencies, store local fuel reserves, or lead a conversation about what life might look like after peak oil.

That conversation needs to happen, and Canadians from other parts of the country are eager to be part of it, because all Canadians can benefit from a green, diversified Albertan economy.

But if you expect the federal government and the rest of Canada to respond to your economic crisis by investing in a non-sustainable industry that’s responsible for one-tenth of our country’s entire carbon footprint? I think I can speak for the east when I say sorry, but our money is all tied up in bumper stickers.

Scott Sharplin, Sydney, N.S.