PGAQ #33 by Vic Steblin, Sep 4, 2008

2570 Laurier Crescent, Prince George, BC, 250-564-1123

The BC Minister of Finance, Colin Hansen, claims that the Climate Action Plan is the government’s future gift to our children. The main idea is that the carbon tax will reduce our use of fossil fuels.

This idea may be good for large cities who do not burn wood but it may be a disaster for smaller towns in the interior that have easy access to wood.

Carbon dioxide is to be preferred over the lung damaging small particles caused by burning wood. But Prince George will obviously burn more wood since the government cannot directly tax wood. I notice truckload after truckload of wood being hauled into the city in preparation for the winter smog season.

The best gift we can leave our children is a respect for our resources. We should be able to let millions of salmon rot on the banks of many rivers. We should be able to let trillions of leaves fall and rot into soil. We should be able to let thousands of stumps and logs rot into the ground.

There is nothing wrong with living lightly on the planet. Fewer people need fewer resources and the Earth has more than enough of everything when there are fewer people. We should be able to leave nature alone as much as possible.