People walk across a dried-up section of Poyang Lake that is facing low water levels due to a regional drought in Lushan, China, on Aug. 24, 2022.Thomas Peter/Reuters
The cost of doing business
Re “Canada’s consul general in New York summoned before Commons committee to justify $9-million condo” (July 25): Canada needs a place to entertain in the world’s business capital, and $9-million in NYC is not an unreasonable price to pay. The U.S. is our largest trading partner, and we can’t look like the poor relations. This is the same petty politics that has prevented the renovation of 24 Sussex Drive. Enough already!
George McNeillie Toronto
Sound the alarm
Re “Jasper National Park evacuations complete after massive effort to help thousands flee wildfire” (July 24): We can only imagine what the campers and residents of Jasper and the surrounding Jasper National Park are going through. Worry, fear, anxiety. Our hearts and minds go out to them because of this unnatural disaster. Climate change is harming us directly – burning homes, communities and places we know and love. Disasters like these are increasing in frequency because of climate change. These unnatural disasters are fuelled by burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. Canada’s actions alone won’t stop wildfires. But every tonne of fossil fuel pollution we reduce matters, and Canada is a big source of this pollution. Canada needs to regulate pollution and innovate. We need to show the way and keep up with record-setting investments in renewable energy in countries such as China. We’re all facing this together. Let’s pull together to protect the people and places we care about.
Ray Nakano Toronto
Systematic risk
Re “Our fragile food supply chain was built for a world that no longer exists” (Report on Business, July 24): Evan Fraser hits the nail on the head. As our economy becomes more dependent on global supply chains, the risk of systematic failure increases, particularly in an era of extreme weather events. Global supply chains are designed to maximize profit through the elimination of excess capacity and industry consolidation, thereby increasing the chance of systematic failure. In 2008, it was the linkage of Lehman Brothers and AIG that nearly collapsed the interconnected and highly leveraged global financial system.
Globalized agriculture is dependent on genetically identical monocultures grown under highly artificial conditions in a limited number of places in the world. A drought or flood in California or Florida can send the prices of fruits and vegetables soaring. Climate change is increasing the probability of simultaneous crop failures around the world.
Furthermore, transportation infrastructure is not designed for extreme weather events. In 2021, a combination of heat domes, droughts, wildfires, atmospheric rivers and a single point of transportation failure severed southwestern B.C. port facilities from the rest of the country.
The “100-mile diet” is not a magic bullet. Read any history book. Crop failures and famines are a common theme in history. Dependence on local agriculture creates unique risk. Global supply chains reduced unique risk by increasing systematic risk. They will become increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events as global food conglomerates acquire their competitors and reduce excess capacity in pursuit of profit.
What is needed is a food strategy that reduces both unique and systematic risk. Government policies must encourage resilient food supply chains based on local, regional, national and international agriculture.
John Shepherd Richmond, B.C.
Here in Southwestern Ontario, we have the best farmland in the entire country. I see it being destroyed for reckless urban sprawl to build more monster homes. And a lot of taxpayers’ money is being spent to destroy more prime farmland to build the sprawling battery plant in St. Thomas, with more of them to follow elsewhere. It’s hard to believe anyone at all is really concerned about food security.
Doug Payne London, Ont.
Water, water, everywhere
Re “If we hope to address flooding in our cities, we have to let the water in, rather than pushing it out” (Opinion, July 24): The article showcases Copenhagen as a model for Canadian cities. This is a sensible plan for Toronto and probably other cities. Winnipeg, however, built a floodway to successfully divert water around the city during high water in the spring. It has prevented countless floods including the near-disastrous Red River flood of 1997. Both Copenhagen and Winnipeg found “ways and means” to accomplish their goals. But it involved massive public investment. The cost (higher taxes) pales in comparison with the huge losses caused by flooding, and the taxpayers of Canada are going to have to accept the outlay of enormous amounts of capital if we want to protect our cities from flooding.
Robert Milan Victoria
Worth fixing
Re “These Canadians want the ‘right to repair’ their stuff: ‘We can’t continue on the same way of consuming’” (Report on Business, July 24): I have a Russian friend who trained and worked as an engineer during the Soviet era. His company had a motto: “We can’t afford to buy cheap stuff.” I am a senior who has always lived with that attitude toward all purchases. For a long time now, though, it has been difficult to find alternatives to cheap, disposable, Chinese-made things, even if you’re willing to pay more for a durable item. From my early teens, I have always been curious about how things work, which leads to being able to fix them. Doing car maintenance, plumbing and electrical repairs and home improvement projects was like having a second income without taxes and no commute. I recently repaired a microwave that suddenly stopped working. A short YouTube search confirmed my suspicion of a blown fuse and provided a workaround for removing the manufacturer’s proprietary cabinet fasteners. A new fuse cost less than $10, and a microwave continues to serve rather than occupy landfill space.
David Gelder Mississauga, Ont.
Big actors
Re “Extreme measures” (Letters, July 25): At the height of the pandemic in 2020, our movement was greatly restricted. Air travel collapsed to the point that my little local airport was the busiest in Canada, on the strength of its pilot-training business. Carbon emissions dropped, but not drastically, and they returned much sooner than private travel and tourism recovered. Yes, aviation should be more sustainable and replaced with rail wherever possible (it’s absurd that we fly on routes like Toronto to Montreal and Calgary to Edmonton). But we have, I think, successfully demonstrated that the climate crisis is not a matter of individual guilt, but is driven by the actions of governments and large corporations, which continued unabated through most of this period.
David Arthur Cambridge, Ont.
Rimshot
Re “Can you guess Olympians’ warm-up songs? World’s top athletes share their favourite tunes” (Life & Arts, July 25): For the Canadian women’s soccer team, it should be Before He Cheats, by Carrie Underwood.
Rudy Buller Toronto
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