Letter: Canada is no poster child for environmentalism

By Letter to the Editor on June 8, 2023.

Dear editor,

I am so tired of people saying Canada does not have a pollution problem. We are getting a D rating on per capita pollution.

We are a large country with a population spread out widely. Everything we want or need has to be transported by truck, train or plane.

We develop our raw materials then we transport them to China and elsewhere to have them make goods for us that they can ship back to us, where we distribute these goods and then we blame China for the pollution they have.

We live in a country that is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. We use furnaces and air conditioning. We live in homes with lawns and gardens treated with herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer that leeches into the water table.

We have agriculture, coal mining and fossil fuels as our main source of revenues, all of which are intensely carbon producing.

As individuals we travel for work and pleasure. We own vehicles, ATV’s, motorhomes and golf carts and all form of recreational vehicles… and most of those are still burning fossil fuels.

Just because we don’t have a great deal of smoke in the air all the time does not mean that we are not some of the world’s worst. Our ice caps are melting. Our waterways are becoming polluted because of economic activity. More people are struggling to breathe.

You can’t point fingers at anyone else for being worse when we are just as bad. Wind and water do not recognize borders. Areas of the U.S. are fed up with untreated sewer and the integrity of pipelines to that country are at risk.

Our biggest issue is the number of people who don’t believe pollution and climate change are a problem. Not only do they not change their ways, they contribute to the problem.

There are 38.7 million people in Canada. Each person needs to do one thing better.

Bonnie Walton

Medicine Hat

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