A touch of hypocrisy on cannabis rules
Re: 鈥淪eeing pot shops clearly,鈥� editorial, Nov. 27.
With the controversy about whether and how windows should be covered so the public is not assaulted by the sight of cannabis from the street, one might question the glass cathedrals showcasing a more dangerous substance: alcohol.
Perhaps a more measured and equitable response toward both products should be considered so as not to look completely hypocritical.
Doug Hayman
Esquimalt
Solution hurts more than the problem
Re: 鈥淣ew bus lane found to save 10聽minutes,鈥� Dec. 6.
The problem with this article is that no one speaks on behalf of the thousands of commuters sitting in their cars longer than they need to so the chosen few on the buses can save 10聽minutes a day.
By restricting cars to two lanes, instead of travelling in three lanes of traffic, albeit mixed in with buses, now we are burning more fuel and increasing the average commute time. For what, so we can feel good about supporting bus transportation?
As Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, wrote: 鈥淲hen a 鈥榮olution鈥� to a problem causes more damage than the problem, policymaking has gone awry.鈥� Methinks Lomborg has been to Victoria.
Patrick Hunt
Victoria
LNG means a lot to聽First Nations
Re: 鈥淎n effective climate plan must be bold and can鈥檛 include LNG,鈥� comment, Dec. 4
So the Sierra Club thinks an effective sa国际传媒 climate plan can鈥檛 include liquefied natural gas.
They have missed the point that by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in Asia, replacing coal to generate electricity, LNG from sa国际传媒 would be part of an effective global climate benefit.
It鈥檚 all very well to say sa国际传媒鈥檚 climate goals are not ambitious enough. But if we shut sa国际传媒 down, 100 per cent, from coast to coast, world GHGs would drop by a mere 1.6 per cent. That would make no serious difference, globally, as other countries continue to produce and increase emissions.
GHGs and climate change know no borders. It鈥檚 time to think globally, and recognize that for every unit of GHGs that sa国际传媒 produces to get our LNG to market, the overseas production of GHGs goes down by a factor of 10.
LNG development in sa国际传媒 means a lot to First Nations: jobs, careers, training, and revenue to improve education and health services, and to improve tragic social and living conditions.
sa国际传媒 and its standard of living ranks sixth in the world, according to the UN Human Development Index. Apply that index to sa国际传媒鈥檚 Indigenous Peoples, and it ranks 63rd.
LNG development and exports can help close that gap.
Karen Ogen-Toews
CEO, First Nations LNG Alliance
GM could have retooled Oshawa plant
Re: 鈥淓nvironmentalists should be cheering,鈥� letter, Dec. 4.
The letter-writer wonders why there was no cheering when General Motors announced the closure of the plant in Oshawa. I would have cheered if they had announced that the plant was re-tooling and switching to the production of electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles. That would be something to celebrate.
Vic Brice
Nanaimo
Bridge editorial was聽insulting
Re: 鈥淓xercise in futility,鈥� editorial, Dec. 5.
I found the editorial about Monday鈥檚 civil disobedience action on the Johnson Street Bridge insulting and patronizing.
The editorial agrees that: 鈥淐limate change is the most important issue of our age,鈥� and that: 鈥淕overnments are moving too slowly.鈥� Then it condemns and demeans concerned citizens for their tactics, yet offers no better alternatives.
I do acknowledge and support the implied suggestion of targeting future actions at the 鈥渘erve centres of Canadian climate policy.鈥� And I urge all who take offence at such tactics as traffic blocking to propose more effective means of forcing our representatives to act with the urgency that the climate crisis demands.
I suggest supporting the Unist鈥檕t鈥檈n fighting the LNG sa国际传媒 pipeline, and the Secwepemc Tiny House Warriors fighting the Trans Mountain expansion. One can also move one鈥檚 savings from banks that fund fossil-fuel projects and into credit unions.
Robie Liscomb
Saanich
Hard to feel optimistic about rebellion
Re: 鈥淪orry for the delays, Victoria,鈥� comment, Dec. 5.
While I am sympathetic to the Extinction Rebellion message, it is hard to feel optimistic. We have seen this movie before.
In the mid-1960s, some of us belonged to a group called Zero Population Growth. ZPG warned that the world鈥檚 population was on the verge of going parabolic, but a window of opportunity to change that had opened due to the discovery of the birth-control pill.
Alas, we were considered screwballs and ZPG was ignored. Now the law of big numbers seems to have taken over. Too late? I wish good luck to Extinction Rebellion.
R.A. Green
Victoria
What do whales think of cruise ships?
Re: 鈥淧ier extensions to boost cruise sector,鈥� Nov. 30.
There is no mention of the impact of more cruise ships on the whale population; it鈥檚 just those pesky oil tankers that upset them.
Michael Rogers
Nanaimo
