Much talk these days that now, with the fire near Fort McMurray still burning, is not the time to bring up climate change. I beg to differ. Now is exactly the time.
This is not about demonizing those who work in the oilpatch, many of whose former jobs have disappeared, many others trying to get themselves out of debt or to put together a down payment for a house. Jobs must be a priority, but we need sustainable jobs using alternate technologies that don’t add to our greenhouse-gas emissions, don’t poison our water and don’t tear up our lands so drastically they can’t come back.
Oilsands oil is the most expensive to produce, the least profitable and it leaves a wake of destruction. The same can be said for fracking for LNG here in B.C., despite Premier Christy Clark’s promises.
This is not an attack on workers. They are parents, too, and their kids will need good jobs long into the future. We need to move beyond the cycle of boom and bust to economic development that will carry us over the long term without destroying our land and water. We must think long-term with the health of ourselves and the planet as a prime goal.
Dorothy Field
Victoria
