I read with some interest the March 28 letter by a Saanich resident encouraging support for the CRD and Saanich to Sue Big Oil. The letter makes two comments that leave me somewhat confused. The writer says that, “while sitting in the forest by UVic I heard a couple of owls.” The letter also states that, “For the fossil fuel industry, human and ecological suffering are just a part of doing business.”
My first “confusion” is that the author is sitting in a forest near UVic. Is this a forest or a token green space within a city, a city that has converted vast areas of forests into concrete and asphalt. These urban areas are a major alienation of once thriving forest ecosystems. And there is no compensation for the alienation created by this continuing sprawl (token Development Cost Charges don’t count). Yes, we are trying to build more green into urban developments which is wonderful but the vast majority of the forests and habitat are permanently gone.
We do need affordable places to live and do business, but perhaps we also need to recognize the ecological reality and pay an alienation tax for every hectare of land removed from the forest. Those funds can be used to rebuild streams, riparian areas and shorelines, and recreate healthy forest land characteristics in these heavily populated areas. We, the beneficiaries of removing forests and habitats, need to recognize our part in removing the diversity of plant and animal life that we now lament. Hard to blame that on the fossil fuel industry.
The second confusion is a suggested inference that the use of fossil fuel products is forced on a naive public by companies with no interest in people or the environment. I am not a defender of big industry and its agenda but I am pretty sure they did not force me to buy a gas-powered vehicle and drive an allotted number of kilometres. They did not ask me to lobby for more buses, planes or ferries to make my travel more convenient.
My suggestion would be if you are going to sue the producer of the product then you should probably sue the willing, informed users as well.
I would also wonder if CRD sues fossil fuel companies and receives some compensation, who will end up paying for the settlement.
Maybe there is a better solution where CRD “encourages” less vehicle use (light electric rail along the Peninsula rather than more buses and roads). How about trying to partner with the petrochemical industry and rethink the current urban development model and build ecosystem diversity into all managed landscapes. Density does not necessarily have to be achieved by expanding out or up.
Bill Irving
North Saanich