Letters…

Dear editor:

I can see from the letters that you stirred the hornet’s nest. They also show that there is limited understanding of what Kyoto is. It started with good environmental intentions but, as normal, was hijacked by the politicians. The accord has nothing to do with lowering pollution, and no, asthma will not improve. The trading on emission credits does nothing to lower the generation of CO2. The real meat between the crusts is how we distribute wealth (emission credits is one way).

Industry has been very responsive in lowering CO2 emissions. The general public just keeps demanding higher raises to pay for their 12 mpg SUVs.

The federal government could have worked with the provinces to reduce home energy use 20 years ago. The R2000 house designed in the late 70s is still not minimum requirement anywhere in this country.

The federal government also destroyed the incredible low energy use railway system in this country. Why? Because it takes about 20 to 50 trucking employees to perform the same productivity as one railway worker.

Several of the largest CO2 generators in the world are not even signing onto the accord for various reasons.

Only one thing is certain: CO2 is increasing since we started to measure it. The weather may be changing but I can remember hot and cold spells even in my short life of 50 years.

The environmental societies such as Goddard etc. claim to have models that predict the future. I say “bull”. They very carefully make assumptions and fudge factors to pretend to predict an event in the past. This is fine but if their model was even close to reality they should be able to predict the weather in other past decades for at least a major land mass. Unfortunately they are so far off that their models very quickly become a joke. One can be just as accurate when using the Farmers’ Almanac.

By the way, I am very much in favor of more efficient use of our resources and I do drive a car that gets over 30 mpg.

Bryan Sullivan

Fort Sask., Alberta

Dear Michael,

The Liberal government support for the Kyoto plan surprises me.

Many experts have pointed out that there is conflicting evidence regarding the effect on the earth as a result of burning fossil fuels. The mixture of science and politics has produced an unreliable cocktail. It has been shown that Canada will suffer considerable economic problems as a result of the plan to implement the policy.

The USA and most other countries contribute far more effect to the so called “Global warming” than Canada. Gong it alone is an irrational policy.

The climate of the earth has experienced many changes over the past millennia. These changes were caused by influences other than burned fuel. Whether we burn more or less will not be the principle cause of climatic change.

There’s no question that certain companies stand to gain by supporting the implementation just like those who encouraged the Y2K nonsense. It seems that every few years we have to deal with another panic item of dubious origins.

Laurence Miller, P.Eng.

Oakville, ON