Dear Sir:
June was not a good month for Enbridge, what with this band of lawyers defending their proposal and two major spills in Alberta.
Of course these spills were not Enbridge's fault they are pointing out that it rained a lot. If some rain can do big damage in a place that is mostly flat farmland think what it can do here, at all our creeks, rivers and lakes, British Columbia also get the odd shower, along with slides and avalanches.
My wife tells me that I should look at the brighter side of issues, so here goes.
The good news is that according to Enbridge the possibility of major spills is onew every 200 years, so we are good for 400 years now, that's great.
Our neighbours the Albertans are suffering right now and my heart goes out to all the people who lost their homes, possessions and memories.
The real sad thing is though that a good part of what corporations like Enbridge consider an act of God is in fact climate change of which a great part is contributed by the tar sands and the fracking and burning of natural gas.
Even though corporations would like us to refer to the gooey mess as environmental friendly oil sand, it reminds me not of virgin olive oil but black top. Besides, scientists have called it tar sands for over one hundred years.
It is true that natural gas burns cleaner than other fuels, however scientists are now saying that if you consider the process of producing it, counting all the methane escaping into the space, it is actually dirtier than coal.
On the bright side, some entrepreneur might build a pipeline and find a market overseas for water that burns, with the hundreds of thousands of wells planned, lots of firewater will be available.
My wife is correct, I am pessimistic about our future.
Mostly I am sad because there is little hope for planet earth, as capitalism is based on unending expansion, extraction and production of goods to sell and the world population reaches astronomical numbers in short order we will pass the point of no return.
To quote my dear departed friend Yukon Smith, "Man is the only animal which [fouls] in its own nest."
The industrial powers meet occasionally and set targets for pollution reduction, targets that no one achieves, while our Mister Harper either does not participate or refuse to sign off.
Meanwhile underdeveloped countries are trying to catch up to our ways of racing to destruction.
Since the US and all Canada's major political parties, including NDP, embraces capitalism, and as long as this system is in place we are doomed.
But remember, that only lost causes are worth fighting for.
John Jensen, Terrace, BC