Dear editor,
In the world today, there are enormous steps being taken with regards to sustainable energy.
However, there are also extremely well-funded forces that oppose these efforts.
A recent study has shown that over $1 billion was spent in the U.S. alone last year in the effort to discredit climate science. Only 25 per cent of that money could be directly traced back to individuals due to the overwhelming number of hops, skips, and jumps the money took through various 'donation' companies, and due to 'free speech' laws surrounding monetary donations.
Even larger numbers of everyday people are simply dragging their heels. They don't want to admit that climate change is real because that means admitting that they need to change their habits. As a species, we don't like changing our habits.
The funny thing in all of this, is that everyone against sustainable energy development is for money.
They all mistakenly think that sustainable energies, electric cars, hydrogen-fuelled airplanes, etc. will be bad for the economy.
Every single study, test, and example shows us that this is not the case. For every dollar we invest today, we will save exponentially more in the future.
The "business as usual approach" to energy will leave us with a cleanup cost that equals or exceeds the entire GDP of the world economy.
Greed today is winning the battle against life tomorrow. We need to accept and impose limits on wealth, we need to enforce those limits as a moral imperative, and we need to acknowledge that all life is more important than the convenience of not having to change our habits for a few years longer.
Let the multi-millennial reign of the rich die so that all life on Earth can persist.
Justin D. Whitehead,
Comox Valley