Editor:
It’s hard not to react angrily to Buzz Bennett’s angry letter posted Jan. 6 (“Monumental hypocrisy”), but I do credit Coast Reporter for reminding us that this mentality is still festering in our communities.
Mr. Bennett’s first (and only, it seems) concern is his perceived loss of prosperity, for him measured uniquely in hypothetical “billion[s]” of dollars. The remainder of his tirade is aimed at the “hypocrisy” of activists based on behaviours that, indeed, he “imagine[s].”
First, not “all” protesters fly or drive to rallies. They usually take public transit, or if they use a vehicle, they carpool to the max. Sure, they use many of the metal and plastic commodities that constitute our material world, but they make great efforts to reduce consumption, reuse good materials and recycle obsessively. They seek and use alternatives to fossil fuel consumption such as solar, geothermal, electric cars, etc., whenever possible. Finally, they (we) work to promote alternatives and educate those who are somehow unaware that the world can change, needs to change, and is changing, like it or not. Mercifully, we do still have some power to direct that change.
Mr. Bennett and those who think like him need to understand that most environmental activists are trying to keep up the transition to sustainable human practices that don’t damage or destroy our earthly home. Environmentalists come in many colours and are not all against all resource development, but most believe fossil fuel development is a bad investment. They don’t expect industry to turn on a dime and throw us all into pre-industrial chaos. Most accept that we won’t see final results in our lifetimes, but we believe that the transition has begun. Unfortunately, there is still much resistance to change that I would describe as monumentally myopic.
Janet Oxley, Gibsons
