Dear Editor:
We need to stop using polluting sources of energy very soon – as soon as we can replace it with clean energy.
It cannot happen tomorrow but if we made this change soon, we could avoid the inescapable destruction of the planet. So many times people who hear that we need to stop using polluting energy sources, get frightened and make the conclusion that we will be left in the cold and dark if we move toward clean energy. This is an assumption made out of fear.
We are in the kind of denial that we see in addicts, because we are addicted: to oil, to plastics, to trinkets and gadgets that give us a few moments of pleasure and then enter the stream of billions of tons of waste humans create every year. All of this consumption demands more and more dirty energy and creates more greenhouse gas.
Because of this crisis, each year, more jurisdictions around the world are putting a price on carbon-cutting greenhouse gas emissions without curbing economic growth. Six Places Where Carbon Pricing is Working, puts the spotlight on the successes of BC, the northeastern United States, Sweden, the UK, Tokyo and the European Union, according to Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission.
Even big oil admits that we need to go in a better direction.
Are we in so much denial that we can’t accept that we need to stand up and show our kids that we want to end the cycle of “slash and burn” that we have ignored in the oil industry and big business? Do not be afraid to change!
Gerry Walsh,
Erin