Re: 鈥淭rans Mountain dominates opening of Alberta legislature,鈥� Oct. 30.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Opposition Leader Jason Kenney bashing each other over who is the more supportive of the fossil-fuel industry is reminiscent of the 1991 hit film Thelma and Louise. After a series of escapades culminating in a murder, the two women are confronted with the consequences of their actions and end their lives by driving their car over a cliff. While Notley and Kenney are far from friends, their advocacy for the fossil-fuel industry implies a willingness to carry humankind over a precipice of global warming and rising sea levels.
A one-metre rise in sea level by the end of the 21st century, as predicted by the UN, would be disastrous for Fraser River Delta industries and communities. While climate experts agree that a temperature increase exceeding 1.5 C would be calamitous, U.S. EPA scientists are now predicting that unless greenhouse-gas emissions are reduced, there will be a global temperature increase of 7 C by 2100.
Not included in these predictions are possible tipping points, such as runaway methane release from thawing permafrost, increased heat absorption by polar oceans as sea ice disappears and possible release of the vast amounts of methane trapped in the ocean depth by cold and pressure, and the unanticipated slippage of Antarctic or Greenland glaciers into oceans.
Harvey Williams
Victoria
