Letter to the Editor
The Islands Grapevine
Denman Island, B.C.
This letter is in reply to the letter by Linda Armstrong in the April 11th edition of TIG.
I took her advice and checked some things out for myself. Alex Epstein is a self styled
energy expert. His academic credential is a B.A. in philosophy, hardly the basis for the claim to be an expert, even in philosophy. He also worked for the Cato Institute, founded and funded by the Koch Brothers, ultra rich fossil fuel barons. This institute is dedicated to increasing wealth for corporations and promotes cutting taxes for corporations and industry, reducing environmental protection legislation, and reducing funding for government programmes in Health, social services and education. See Dark Money by Jane Mayer for publications from the Cato Institute.
Her stated “Facts” have no citations.
In fact,…
Renewable sources of energy have seen massive reduction in cost. Countries like Denmark now use renewables for most of their energy grid. See Denmark Energy Agency.
Flooding in Bangladesh in 2022, and 2023, caused by climate change displaced tens of millions of people and their livelihoods. Cyclone Freddy in Feb/March lasted for 37 DAYS off the east coast of Africa. The longest and most vicious storm in history. Can you imagine living through a storm like that for 37 days? These are only 2 examples and the poverty and despair that follows these events is overwhelming.
Fossil fuel health effects. Following the above mentioned flooding, Infant mortality rates skyrocketed by 500%, according to the United States agency for International development. Closer to home, 600 people died in BC because of the June 2021 heat dome.
Let’s not forget harm from plastics, another fossil fuel product line. Micro plastics cause increases in heart disease, cancers, lung disease, endocrine diseases, birth defects etc etc. These health data can be found on the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment website.
So Ms. Armstrong, checking this out has shown that I should trust real scientists like Edward Teller; who predicted these consequences of fossil fuel industries in 1959 at a conference run by the American Petroleum Institute, and today’s Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, who is a professor at Texas Tech University and Chief Scientist at the Nature Conservancy. These scientists explain the true costs to humanity of this industry. The industry has had huge benefits to humankind, but now the price we are paying is becoming clear. The path ahead will be disastrous if we do not heed the real experts and change course.
Respectfully submitted,
Theresa Clinton, Denman Island.
