Dear Editor
Imagine you felt it necessary to tie down the roof of your house. This is what my friend's family did in the Philippines to prepare for the typhoon.
Yeb Sano, lead climate change negotiator for the Philippines, fasted in solidarity with his people during the recent UN Climate Change convention. When asked why he linked the super typhoon with climate change he said it was the science of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. "As the Earth warms up, that would include the oceans. The energy that is stored in the waters off the Philippines will increase the intensity of typhoons and the trend we now see is that more destructive storms will be the new norm," he said. He pleads with us to help his community deal "with the twin challenges of the developmental crisis and the climate change crisis."
While we will never have to tie down the roofs of our houses, climate change has profound implications for our communities. Continuing on our current path of extreme energy - tar sands, fracking, and nuclear - is clear madness; environmental and economic madness. The energy return on energy invested is not there and as the price rises, green energy will triumph.
By ending subsidies to petroleum industries and implementing a carbon tax we will have the funding necessary to shift to a green economy with sustainable jobs that will defend our climate and our communities. Step in. Speak out. Join http://www.defendourclimate.ca/.
Nancy Carswell
Shellbrook
