In a letter to the editor by Art Betke, published on March 9, Mr. Betke set forth reasons to ignore the dire global warming warnings coming from scientists worldwide, but forgot to mention something far more deadly than global warming, and that is global pollution.
For it is the unrelenting increase in pollutants that will exterminate us long before extreme temperature ever does.
Not only is the use of fossil fuels destroying the Earth's air supply, it is wiping out huge tracts of land and turning pure, clean groundwater into toxic cesspools hostile to all life. While I appreciate Mr. Betke's concern the public may be being hoodwinked, he is shadow boxing with the real issues, issues that are a very real and present threat to all life.
Currently, Canada controls about one-fifth of the world's remaining fresh water supply.
Site C is being built specifically to provide a massive reservoir to trap trillions of gallons of that remaining fresh water, so it can be mixed with poisons before being pumped into the ground during the fracking process, to extract liquefied natural gas from the Liard basin.
Once these vile substances are pumped into the ground, they leech into the ground water, turning it into poison too.
As the ground water slowly moves, it follows the lay of the land, polluting everything it its path, and some eventually works its way back up to the surface.
In parts of China, fossil fuel pollution is so bad they actually have
huge televisions outside subway and train stations, just so that people can see what the sky above them looks like.
Millions and millions of people wear masks every day of their lives, not just for parties and festive holidays.
As for good paying jobs, if the only good paying jobs are ones involved in the trampling of rights and destruction of Canadian land, air, water and jobs, do they really qualify as 'good' jobs at all?
Instead of training Canadians to serve foreign corporations extracting our raw resources to compete against us in the global market, shouldn't we be investing in Canadians developing emerging green technologies, and awesome good paying, long term jobs, to compete against them?
Yes, Mr. Betke, global warming
is debatable, but global pollution is not.
It is very, very real, and it is coming (or has) to lungs near you.
Will Lewis
Prince George
