A campaign against a diplomat
According to a group of 23 former ambassadors, Richard Colvin was “unfairly subjected to personal attacks” (Former Ambassadors Condemn Ottawa’s Attack On Diplomat – Dec. 8). The Harper government should be tarred and feathered – with oil sands’ tar and chicken feathers, that is – for waging a personal campaign against a diplomat who under difficult circumstances tried to provide the government with accurate intelligence. Their attack, motivated by fear of public opinion, serves to thwart the open interchange of information between members of the foreign service and that government.
Diana McCarthy, Ottawa
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When are the media going to start calling this the detainee scandal (The Record And The Falsehoods – editorial, Dec. 8)? This is so much more offensive to me than the sponsorship scandal and deserves at least an equally condemning title.
Art Brewer, Toronto
What oil, drugs have in common
The oil sands production debate should take note of the battles against prostitution and drugs (Head Stuck In The Sands – letters, Dec. 8). As long as there is demand, someone will supply. Supply-side control just does not work. Ask the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency how they’re doing in Central and South America.
Henry Ko, Montreal
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Thomas Homer-Dixon and Andrew Weaver’s comments on certain statements made by climate skeptics apply equally to their own statements: nonsense; rubbish; yes, but so what? and wrong. They accuse skeptics of cherry-picking the year 1998 as a starting point (Responding To The Skeptics – Dec. 7). Their suggestions of 1996, 1997, 1999 or 2000 are essentially cherry-picking as well.
In the first IPCC report, a temperature graph showed a Medieval Warm Period that was significantly warmer than the present. Remember the comment “we must get rid of the MWP” from the “hacked” e-mails? Michael Mann et al. got rid of the warm period by cherry-picking data. They used a bristlecone-pine proxy from the western U.S. that dominated the reconstruction, killing the warm period and creating a hockey stick graph.
We have much to learn about what causes the variations in temperature. When I’m shown a study that accurately measures the amount of heating caused by greenhouse gases, I’ll take it seriously. Until then, pollution of the air, water, land and food are far more significant.
Gerald Machnee, Lockport, Man.
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A few days ago, as I waited to board a ferry from South Korea to Japan, a congenial Korean woman questioned me about where best to experience “unpolluted Canada.” We were interrupted when someone (Korean? Japanese? Canadian?) said “forget history” and delivered what appeared to be an accurate take on Stephen Harper’s environmental stance.
Canadians may believe we live at the navel of the universe, but our only international asset (we blew off the peacekeeping stuff years ago) is our image as “unpolluted.”
Too bad we blew that.
Robert Lake, Nepean, Ont.
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As someone who worked on climate change in Washington for several years, I know EPA-rulemaking is no substitute for congressional action (U.S. Makes First Move At Copenhagen – Dec. 8).
The best way to reduce carbon dioxide is through market-based incentives, such as Europe’s cap-and-trade program or B.C.’s carbon tax. While these measures are easily incorporated into an act of Congress, they are, in practice, unavailable through direct EPA action that relies on inefficient technology standards. Any progress made by the EPA could prove illusory, since it could be reversed by any future president.
Nalin Sahni, Toronto
New story, old story
It seems most ingenuous of Bob Geldof to describe the situation in Ethiopia without mentioning that it has almost doubled its population in the 25 years since the 1980s famine (There’s A New Story, Of An Africa Rising – Dec. 8). This increased population is supported by ever more precarious agriculture, so the next famine will inevitably be even worse.
Hugh Jones, Toronto
