Friends of the Richelieu. A river. A passion.



"Tout cedit pays est fort uny, remply de forests, vignes & noyers. Aucuns Chrestiens n'estoient encores parvenus jusques en cedit lieu, que nous, qui eusmes assez de peine à monter le riviere à la rame. " Samuel de Champlain


"All this region is very level and full of forests, vines and butternut trees. No Christian has ever visited this land and we had all the misery of the world trying to paddle the river upstream." Samuel de Champlain

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Fort McMurray

3 comments:

  1. Fort Mac is taking advantage of men and women who need a job in order to extract an extreme climate change impacting fossil fuel, ripping off forest, muskeg and tundra or steaming up the underground. They are raping the land, contaminating surface and groundwater, adding methane and CO2 to the air when the whole planet is trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid irreparable changes to our homeworld.

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  2. So this friend of mine is worried about some of her family members living in Fort Mac. OK. I get that. But let's take a step back here and look at the big picture.

    They have a job in Fort Mac. But at what price?

    What price are we willing to pay for the good of the few at the expense of the many?

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  3. Reader comment in The Tyee:
    Adelard •

    Eventually, if we live long enough, we'll all be victims of global warming.

    The Ft Mac fire isn't normal. It's unseasonal and abnormal - from "extreme" conditions at this time of year due to the strong El Nino, wild swings in the jet stream, record-breaking temperatures and low humidity. It's one of many abnormal climate change impacts happening globally - on their own, a seemingly random act of God, but together a very obvious pattern. Just ask the insurance industry. Yes, the people of Ft Mac impacted ARE climate change refugees.

    The question is: where do we draw the line between compassion and condemnation? If we were always compassionate, our jails wouldn't be filled. One would have to be completely ignorant to not understand the connection between the tar-sands and climate change. One would have to be completely ignorant to not understand the connection between climate change and those harmed by the unprecedented droughts and deluges and heatwaves of the last decade, even those in the 2013 flooding in Alberta.

    Most, I think, are in denial or just don't care. So should we feel compassion for them? I'm not so sure anymore. If my neighbour profits from harming me and my children's future, I'm not inclined to be very neighbourly...

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