Dear Editor,
Like many other readers (I would like to hope the vast majority) I was very dismayed to read the letter to the Editor from Christine Dorothy. I appreciate the hard decisions you must make regarding free speech and opinions when assessing letters to the Editor and, as you stated “Ideas without factual or rational foundations will be shown for what they are in the public arena. Better that, than pushing them into the shadows where they can remain unquestioned”. Hopefully, that is the case and it is not further solidifying the ill-informed element of society that can’t understand what is happening, or is too insecure to face reality and therefore denies it. Of course, in our modern internet-based source of knowledge, people can seek out false data supporting what they want to believe. In your Aug 18 edition, you mentioned anti-vaxxers, and that some believe the outrageous conspiracy theory that there is a “worldwide plot to gain control of people’s minds by injecting them with some kind of nanites”. Yes! Bill Gates and Microsoft have teamed up with all the vaccine makers to secretly inject us with a windows 12 OS to scan our thoughts and bombard us with customized ads to our retinas, and after the 10th update has been downloaded, control our thoughts. The only problem with that is that many of us would suffer from a Blue-screen death before the 10th update!
Back to the Climate Emergency – Ms Dorothy says that the climate change conspiracy is a plot for the redistribution of wealth and a new political system. Wow, I wish she had explained this. So, again, thousands of scientists (that have devoted their lives to science) worldwide from every major country, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Meteorologists, all major reputable news outlets, governments from every country that is a major emitter, etc, etc, have all conspired to create a false narrative on climate change, and with the end goal of a new political system. Every individual involved is keeping it a secret from the rest of us. “Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think” (Emma Goldman)
In a way, I resent the need to state the facts regarding climate change, as we are far beyond debate. FACT- the correlation between CO2 emissions, the planet warming, and our meteoric industrialization couldn’t be clearer. The majority of this has happened in the last 110 years.
FACT: CO2 creates the “green house” effect that creates the warming of the planet.
FACT: As a modernized, over-populated planet, dependent on a very fragile technology-dependent system of food and water supply, we are very vulnerable to the sudden rise in global temperatures.
FACT: In the coming years and decades, weather will become even more volatile as CO2 levels continue to rise.
FACT: a global temperature rise causes a snow-ball effect. Two of many examples: Drought leading to a substantial increase in forest fires, which releases more CO2 and damages forests that would otherwise remove CO2 from the air. The loss of permafrost in northern regions exposes organic material that can release vast amounts of CO2, as a substantial fraction of this material can be mineralized by microbes and converted to CO2 and CH4 (Methane) (Climatechangepost.com; also refer to an article in the August 21 Ottawa Citizen p. B11 “Heat Wave reveals Methane Surge”). Because of the snowball effect, it will become exponentially harder to reverse the CO2 levels. At some point, we will reach the point of no return, referred to as the tipping point.
FACT: if we don’t make the necessary changes to reduce and reverse CO2 emissions, we are headed for a catastrophic outcome, the extent of which and timeframe is debatable: mass displacement; extreme weather; vast areas of land flooded; exponential increase in conflict between nations due to unliveable conditions, food and water shortages, etc., and, in the worst case, massive ocean algae blooms producing hydrogen sulfide gas, “produced in the oceans through sulfate decomposition by sulfur bacteria, that can easily kill both terrestrial and oceanic plants and animals.” (Science Daily) This is thought to be the cause of many of the previous mass extinctions.
I recall my sister having a bumper sticker a couple decades ago: “The most violent element in society is ignorance.” I have reflected over the last recent years on how true this is.
Sasha Honsl
