In reply to Joe Brehm’s letter of Sept. 19, questioning the correlation between the environment and the economy, I would like to quote at least one excellent reference (of which there are many if one cares enough to take the time to look) regarding this.
In the December 2011 edition of the scientific journal Discover the article “Going To Extremes” parallels Australia and North America, both being large continents subject to changing ocean currents with economics dependent on resource extraction, Australia’s being coal.
Extremes of climate are part of their history but in the last two decades they have experienced prolonged droughts, cyclones, forest fires and floods of an intensity not seen before, causing loss of life and livelihood.
They have now imposed mandatory measures to decrease use of all resources, especially fossil fuels and water, changing agricultural techniques to survive drought, water metering and a carbon tax, to name but a few.
Neither Australia’s scientists nor climate change are ridiculed by the politicians or public.
Living here in B.C., I feel I am experiencing my school geography lessons and climate change all around me with more extremes of temperature occurring more frequently, increased volumes of precipitation or none at all, drying winds from the south and altered seasonal patterns.
I feel blessed to have hiked, cycled or sailed past glaciers around the world as they are now melting rapidly, scuba-dived in the Great Barrier Reef as the coral is now dying from increased ocean acidity and seen wildlife in the parks of East Africa before it is all poached into extinction.
If the written word is not credible enough as evidence of climate change then I suggest travelling to some of those places to see for oneself, then it may not seem so “smart” to pave over a wetland area that is a vital part of our ecosystem.
The leaves will no longer be green without adequate precipitation, either as rain or snow.
Linda Irvine