Published in the Barrie Examiner, July 8
Re: Bigger isn’t always better
I totally agree with Dr. Bursztyn and Mr. Jacoby-Hawkins about the
importance of reducing our reliance on oil by becoming more energy
efficient. We are already experiencing catastrophic climate events
around the world and it is not enough for each one of us to do a little
bit. We all need to do make as many changes as possible such as drying
clothes using free heat from the sun, drinking water from the tap which
we already paid for rather than paying 500 times more for bottled water
where the bottling and transportation process spews out millions of
tonnes of C02 and toxic emissions, plant more trees which among many
benefits absorb C02 and other toxic pollutants, stop using plastic bags which
break into smaller toxic petro-polymers which eventually contaminate our
soil and enter our food chain, and avoid washing our cars in the driveway where cleaning
products go directly into Lake Simcoe causing algae bloom and killing
fish. The World Wildlife Fund completed a climate-change ranking based on carbon
emissions, energy efficiency and use of renewable resources among the G8
nations. Unfortunately out of 8 countries Canada ranked second last just
in front of United States which came in last. United Kingdom ranked
first followed by France and Germany. Like Dr. Bursztyn pointed out we
are lagging behind Europe so we need to double our efforts.
Gwen Petreman, Barrie