Re: MP Morrison calls Keystone XL permit cancellation ‘devastating news’ (Jan. 28)
If MP Rob Morrison calls President Biden’s cancellation the Keystone XL pipeline permit “devastating news,” I suggest he take a good long look at the mountain of science, and the Paris agreement, which unequivocally state that we need to the slash our carbon emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.Pipelines designed to encourage the production of oil from the Alberta tar sands, oil that is amongst the most polluting in the world, just cannot be not part of our plan, not if we want a decent future for ourselves and our children.
We don’t, as Mr. Morrison states, need a tax base from tar sands oil to build a green economy, because we cannot afford to make the mess we’re in any bigger than it already is. What we really need is for you and me and everyone else to roll up our sleeves, tighten our belts and, without complaining, without procrastinating, do what scientists keep telling us so urgently needs to be done: stop taking fossil fuels out of the ground, chucking them into the atmosphere and messing with our climate.
So I ask you, please, look around at our towns, the beautiful environment that surrounds us, the good life we have, and think, what could be worth risking this? Not money, surely. Jobs matter, of course, but some things matter more.
There are many ways to make a living, many ways to create jobs, but we’ve only got one home.What we need is government policies that the give Canadians in Alberta and elsewhere the training they need to transition out of oil and into good jobs in the industries of the future, not ones that throw money into pipelines down a dead end road.
Ruth Kamnitzer
Nelson