Regarding your article on the climate strike demonstration on Friday, September 15, at city hall, very glad to see the reporting of our local contribution to the global day of action [“Climate strike takes place at Powell River City Hall,” September 18].
However the captions and comments are a little underwhelming. Under the photo it said “qathet Climate Alliance and several other groups ‘concerned’ about greenhouse gas emissions…”
I can assure folks that the level of concern goes well beyond just concerned. Given what has happened locally and globally with wildfires and floods, and a number of other related consequences related to extreme weather exacerbated by global heating, anyone who isn’t at the very least concerned at this juncture must be asleep at the wheel, literally.
Current greenhouse gas emissions are an existential threat to life on this planet and need to be reduced drastically, as soon as possible.
The other comment that caught my attention was “end the use of fossil fuels that are ‘believed’ to be accelerating climate change," with attention on the word ‘believed’. This is no longer a case of belief, this is scientific fact. There is no longer any debate of any significance on this issue.
Maybe it is a case of belief for the uninformed, but for 90-plus per cent of the world’s climate scientists it is fact! If you are paying attention to the international media and the United Nations, you will get it. As Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, just stated, “humanity has opened the gates of hell."
On September 15, worldwide, there were millions on the streets to protest the continuing exploitation of the fossil fuel industry, which is making record profits on our stupidity as we ignore the threat. Is this the future we want for our offspring?
It is time to give some serious thought to other options to producing greenhouse gases, and government regulations are not enough to protect us, so far anyway. It is up to all of us to change our expectations and lifestyles, or suffer the consequences, like the people of West Kelowna, Fort MacMurray, Yellowknife, Hay River, Lytton, Lybia, Greece, et cetera. Capiche?
Bill Lytle McGhee is a member of qathet Climate Alliance.
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