Jason Aldean performs on stage during day three of CMA Fest 2023 at Nissan Stadium on June 10, in Nashville, Tenn..Jason Kempin/Getty Images
A few questions
Re “B.C. hikers dramatically rescued by helicopter from forest fire” (July 27) and “Freeland calls on CRTC to fix cellular dead zones in wake of Nova Scotia flash flood” (July 28): How much more forest do we want to burn up? How many more homes do we want to burn down? How many more people do we want to die from heat waves?
How many more roads, bridges and homes do we want to wash away? How many more people do we want to drown from floods?
Keep producing and burning fossil fuels and see how bad it will get. It will likely be worse than we can imagine, unless we stop.
When we value people’s lives and homes more than fossil fuel profit, then we may have a chance to change our dire situation.
Ray Nakano Toronto
End game
Re “Ford government’s nuclear push is a costly déjà vu for Ontario’s power sector” (Report on Business, July 26): A useful history of past electricity demand forecasts and how things actually transpired: Essentially, technology improvements will obviate the need for massive capacity increases.
But what if they don’t? The lead times required for both building capacity and more efficient use solutions mean we can’t prudently bet on just one. The costs of losing that wager are too high.
Aside from refurbishing costs, money being spent on nuclear energy is for planning and design. As I understand it, it will be years before construction starts.
Hedging bets would be best at this point.
John Madill Oshawa, Ont.
At the front end, details are lacking for the costs of remediating tailing ponds and ever-increasing wastes generated to recover meagre amounts of uranium from native ores.
At the tail end, there are non-existent costs for storing ever-increasing spent fuel bundles for millennia, via undetermined technology.
Both of these costs should be factored into the cost per unit of nuclear electricity before a believable economic evaluation is calculated.
Harvey Robert Lee Oshawa, Ont.
Lane ways
Re “E-bikes and the future of transit” (Editorial, July 24): Someone pushes a full shopping cart to a checkout line 10 people long and bemoans the traffic. But then a 10-items-or-less lane opens and three people shuffle over. Self-checkouts power on and a few more people jump over. A pickup and delivery service starts and three more people are no longer in the main line.
Not one of these systems works directly for the last person in line, but they more efficiently reduce traffic than any old extra lane. This is why we invest in sidewalks, bike and carpool lanes and public transit. Each is more efficient or cost-effective than widening a highway, as endless theoretical and real-world studies show.
These options can also help those who drive more efficiently than pure asphalt could ever do, let alone with the equity and environmental benefits.
Commuting by car: Many of us are just trying to stay out of the way.
Andrew Dodds Toronto
Other way
Re “Ottawa finally thinks big on high-frequency rail in Quebec City-Toronto corridor” (Report on Business, July 26): It’s obvious to me that, once again, politics trumps economic reality. Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal makes sense, but extending service to Trois-Rivières and Quebec would make absolutely none.
What happened to the plan of extending a route to southwestern Ontario? Does connecting Toronto to Windsor/Detroit, Chatham-Kent, London (Via Rail’s third busiest destination), Woodstock, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph not make more sense? Their populations are at least triple that of Trois-Rivières and Quebec.
If business sense were to prevail, there should be only one way to look at this.
Knute Dohnberg Grey Highlands, Ont.
On the ground
Re “Near and far” (Letters, July 26): Having lived in the Netherlands, I have to question a letter-writer’s contention that if only we were imaginative like the Dutch, our housing issues would be solved. Like they say about politics, all housing issues are local.
The Dutch have unique roadblocks to affordable and adequate housing: Long delays in planning approvals, resistance to change from an influential farming sector and European Union pressures to reduce emissions are a sample of impediments.
Lack of suitable land for housing does force some density. However, the stereotypical Dutch row house is not particularly efficient in its land use.
The Dutch are admirable for many things. But in this case, I’m not sure that applying Dutch imagination would necessarily improve the Canadian situation.
Stephen Shevoley Vernon, B.C.
Like a prayer
Re “The Christian right has lost touch with the true values of their religion” (July 25): Contributor Michael Coren reminds us of the contributions that Christianity and other religions, at their best, can make toward progressive change.
This reminder is all the more necessary when the more regressive elements of religious denominations provide even more reason for those with a secular disposition to judge religions solely on the harm that they are capable of inflicting on society.
The pressing global challenges we all face call for care of others and our environment, reason and understanding. These are strengths that religions are able to nurture and reinforce, albeit depending on the people engaged.
Heaven knows, we need such individual and collective capabilities now more than ever.
Myles Frosst Ottawa
Try that
Re “Jason Aldean’s twisted American dream” (July 26): Things to try in a small town (in no particular order): bakeries, farmers’ market, museums, parks, pools, grocery stores, craft breweries, second-hand shops, libraries, fundraisers, parades, fairs, the architecture.
Talk to a local, ask how they’re doing. Share what you believe, but listen, too; it’s okay to not agree.
Now add to this list.
Marc Spooner Regina
Next generation
Re “Come on Barbie, let’s go profit (from nostalgia)” (Amplify Newsletter, July 28): So, Barbie is starting to feel her own mortality. Join the club. Enter baby boomer Barbie.
Barbie is 64. Next year she will leave middle age and join the oxymoronically named “young-old.” The merchandising possibilities are endless: tiny bifocals, comfort-waist stretch pants, orthopedic shoes, menopause sleepwear, miniature pill organizers, a home blood-pressure cuff. Instead of a hamburger and fries, the Barbie combo could be high-fibre cereal with a glass of calcium-fortified orange juice.
And that’s just for now. With every passing year, Barbie will need more of the accoutrements of aging: Barbie-sized front-fastening bras, pull-up diapers, canes, walkers, raised toilets, shower chairs, dentures, hearing aids and artificial hips.
When will Mattel realize they are missing a marketing bonanza?
Lauralee Morris Brampton, Ont.
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