Dear Editor,

I often see demonstrators carrying signs saying, “Save the earth” or something to that effect. The earth doesn’t need saving — it’s human society that is threatened by our own actions and consequences. On the other hand, I hear comments about . . .

carbon tax or banning single-use plastics and how “That won’t stop the problem, so why should we bother doing that?” Or, “That carbon tax is just a cash grab by the Trudeau government, to line his pockets.” Well, if you agree that greenhouse gases are changing the atmosphere and plastics are contaminating the land and seas, then just how would you advise we counteract that?

For more than 40 years, I’ve been involved with organizations and movements attempting to spread the word that environmental degradation is a real thing and that we’re the main cause. More often than not, it seemed that few people were paying attention — too busy living the life of luxury that sucking the juice out of our fragile foothold on this planet can afford. Recently, such programs as carbon tax have been proposed by governments throughout the world, and passed, then downgraded or ignored, while the problems associated with carbon-based climate change and plastic pollution continue unabated.

So I wonder, is it time to just give up on the notion of redirecting energies and mitigating climate change? Should we keep partying, burning the candle at both ends, until our civilization goes over the cliff? That doesn’t sound like a fun party to me and I won’t live long enough to clean up afterward, so it’s really up to younger folks to tell us how they want to finish this experiment of life on earth.

Robert Wills

Shawville and Thorne, QC