Let’s write to the trees to show we love them
Re: “We like trees, but do we love them like Melbourne?” Jack Knox, Dec. 12.
Jack Knox frequently brightens my day, but to know that people in Melbourne, Australia, appreciate trees enough to write letters to them gladdens my heart.
It is always uplifting to express appreciation, and trees certainly deserve our thanks for the numerous ways they help humankind.
We could start a movement in Victoria if we follow the Aussies and write love letters to our favourite trees. It could also be a project for schools to teach compassion and emphasize the importance of trees in our lives.
As author Richard Powers writes: “This is not a world with trees in it. It is a world of trees, where humans have just arrived.”
To avoid harming the trees, each letter could be placed inside a plastic bag and then tied around the trunk.
I look forward to reading letters to the trees.
Shelagh Levey
Cordova Bay
The planet will survive, but maybe humans won’t
Re: “Black Friday is bad for the planet and our wellbeing,” column, Dec. 12.
Trevor Hancock describes very well the buying frenzy and the deleterious effects of Black Friday when he calls it “an orgy of consumerism that kicks off the Christmas shopping binge.”
Like other environment-minded people, he rightfully worries about the planet. But the planet couldn’t care less. It will keep spinning and it will rebound from whatever we throw at it. It has handled several cataclysmic events in the past and undoubtedly will do again in the future.
The real worry is the destruction of our beautiful environment and the numerous species that we have exploited and abused out of existence, and the species that we will send into extinction in the future, ourselves among them, if we don’t fundamentally change our ways.
Given the large amount of stupid people across the globe, the inhuman economic system that we chose to follow and the greed and short sight of most political leaders, the chances of doing what’s required to avoid the impending climate catastrophe are practically nil.
But even if we were to do what’s needed, it’s so late in the game that implementing the necessary changes would not be a smooth transition, as many believe to be possible. People would suffer and would die, and the most vulnerable would be the most affected.
Homo sapiens is on target to be the first known species to self-destruct, and maybe our own extinction is the best news.
J.G. Miranda
Victoria
Natural systems vital to our lives
The Dec. 1 commentary “Salt Spring housing policies bode ill for the future” by Frants Attorp was not given a fair reading by Daniel Wood in his Dec. 9 response.
Housing and labour shortages resulting from high property values are not unique to Salt Spring or any other Gulf Island. The entire country is affected.
Wood ignored Attorp’s main point, that suspending enforcement of all illegal dwellings until the housing problem is solved “in perpetuity,” and allowing accessory dwellings in all zones, will have terrible long-term environmental consequences.
How long before the deregulation virus spreads to other Gulf Islands?
Such policies would be highly controversial in any urban area, let alone in an area that is supposed to be protected in perpetuity for all British Columbians. Standing up for the Islands Trust Act does not make one elitist.
A 2007 environmental report stated that Salt Spring is “already past build-out for maintaining healthy ecosystems,” and recommended a hold on further development “until ecosystem health issues are resolved.” What happened?
If we neglect the natural systems that sustain life, and if the automatic response to housing needs now and in the future is to drop all enforcement and increase densities, there will be nothing left to “preserve and protect.”
Jennifer Margison
Galiano Island
Giving special thanks to health-care workers
Many professions require self-sacrifice at the best of times. I know, since I walked away from my non-health-care career due to burnout.
Two years after that, this pandemic started taking lives like guerrilla warfare. And now two more years later? COVID deaths keep happening; inoperable cancer is on the rise; and doctor/nurse burnout is inevitable.
Some decry choices we make, whether due to vaccine hesitancy, personal impacts from delay or philosophical mindset. Add to this regular catastrophes and there is a storm our health-care providers weather continuously.
They can’t escape the tragedy, folks. It’s all around them. I couldn’t cope in my job at the best of times. I know our professional health-care workers are suffering.
I am thankful, daily, to all of you. I know the pay isn’t enough even for the specialists out there. I walked away, I wouldn’t fault any of you if you decided it wasn’t worth it to keep on giving.
Where would we be without you? Your self-sacrifice no matter what decisions, actions or complaints you witness, is breathtaking. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
We are all sacrificing in this pandemic, but none more selflessly than our health-care professionals and their families.
Erin Lumley
Saanich
Location would offer broad cultural experience
When I look around Victoria’s Inner Harbour I see a blank canvas, which is tragic because there has been no significant change for literally generations.
Victoria desperately needs a linchpin attraction on the harbour, more so with Royal sa国际传媒 Museum closing what is arguably its most beloved exhibit.
The myopic attempt to generate revenue from our iconic, historically significant, high-profile Canadian Pacific Steamship Building by providing more downtown retail space lacked vision and resulted in failure. The building is a public asset and should be used as such.
The CPR Terminal building, which is itself a maritime artifact, would be the perfect location for the Maritime Museum of sa国际传媒 The included water-lot is a very desirable asset for the MMBC.
A new MMBC on the waterfront with dock space could create a much needed mainstay attraction by working with Indigenous partners to provide for a broader cultural experience.
If MMBC is granted tenure to the CPR building, the funding will follow as the vision becomes clear. This is the perfect opportunity to provide the MMBC with a viable and sustainable location for the benefit of all the citizens of sa国际传媒
Let’s turn the Maritime Museum into something we can all be proud of.
Capt. Ed Lien
Victoria
A place for education about maritime history
I want to throw my voice behind the concept of the Maritime Museum of sa国际传媒 moving into the Steamship Terminal.
It should be fairly obvious that if this is handled correctly it can be a serious tourist attraction as well as provision of some seriously needed education for all of us about our maritime history — including that of the First Nations.
F.P. Crober
North Saanich
Museum belongs in the Steamship Building
Such a brilliant idea to move the Maritime Museum of sa国际传媒 to the Steamship Building in the Inner Harbour.
It’s high time that decision-makers help the museum celebrate and promote who we are as a maritime nation. If nothing else, its good business.
Victoria continues to be our “Pacific Gateway.” That was the theme of a recent virtual conference organized by local members of the Canadian Nautical Research Society. We had gathered online from Japan to Germany to mark the 150th anniversary of the province of sa国际传媒’s joining Confederation.
Like the Maritime Museum of sa国际传媒, we explored the importance of the maritime world for sa国际传媒. We did so by re-examining seafaring, shipbuilding, exploration, economic development and international relations. And as the museum has always tried to show — while forced to live in the shadows — all of this has loomed large since the earliest days of sa国际传媒 history.
Our ports have proven themselves keys to sa国际传媒’s success in times of war and peace. The Maritime Museum belongs in the Steamship Building.
Michael Hadley
Victoria
Put sa国际传媒 first in the citizenship oath
I recall attending a citizenship ceremony and being gobsmacked hearing the first sentence in sa国际传媒’s Citizenship Oath: “I swear (or affirm) I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.”
If you were an immigrant fleeing a troubled country and dreaming of living in sa国际传媒, how would you feel about not bearing allegiance to your new home?
Can we still honour our historical relationship with the monarchy while paying allegiance to our sa国际传媒 first?
G. Oliver Kelly
Victoria
Is Yemen on the right COVID track?
Re: “Compare numbers to see what the virus can do,” letter, Dec. 9.
The letter asked us to compare our COVID numbers to those of Yemen.
Yemen has reported just under 2,000 COVID deaths to the World Health Organization.
sa国际传媒 with a population just a little larger than Yemen has reported close to 30,000 COVID deaths. Does this mean we should scrap our public health measures and vaccines so as to achieve Yemen’s 15 times better results?
Harold Stebbe
Nanoose Bay
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