Editor:
The climate crisis kills thousands of people each year by air pollution, extreme weather events and other means. It also contributes to the spread of viruses such as COVID-19. The global response to COVID-19 has been heroic and historic. But I can’t help thinking that the world needs to mount a similarly heroic and historic response to the climate crisis.
We on the Sunshine Coast are in a unique position to do something about it. What we can do is become stewards of our local forests. As we know, there are many reasons for protecting our forests. The most obvious reason is that they are the lungs of our planet – they absorb enormous amounts of carbon dioxide and give us oxygen in return. The need to protect our forests is not only critical, it is also the easiest and best way that we, in this part of the world, can help fight climate change.
We don’t need to point to the Amazon or anywhere else to see the decimation of the world’s rainforests. We only need to drive up the B&K road in Roberts Creek. BC Timber Sales is the government agency that oversees the destruction of thousands of hectares of our forests, including forests that are hundreds of years old. I don’t understand why our NDP government does nothing to stop such atrocities. The only explanation I can imagine is that our government must be suffering from what Aldous Huxley called “paralysis of will.”
I strongly believe that it is up to us – the citizens of the Sunshine Coast – to stand up, speak out and lend our support to the few volunteers and first nations leaders who have been fighting this battle tirelessly on our behalf, despite receiving no recognition nor even acknowledgement from our elected representatives. If enough of us voice our support for them, we can give them the boost they need to keep up the fight and give our government the courage it needs to face up to the powerful timber interests and finally tell them: “No more! For the sake of our planet, the destruction of these ancient forests must stop!”
Robert O’Neill, Roberts Creek
