Last week’s letters thematically linked to fossil fuels

Though printed under three separate headlines, last week’s letters were thematically linked to fossil fuels [Letters, September 26–October 3].

Louis Matousek’s intent was clear in that buses move people. Cars clog the roads and do not move nearly as many people per square metre of road occupied and amount of fossil fuel burned. Don’t take away bus stops, possibly add more. Having spent a winter in a wheelchair, I can attest to the wisdom of that last point.

Mark Beeching ties Premier Christy Clark’s touting of a new bridge over the Fraser River to cuts to the HandyDART system. Again, I draw on my experiences as a disabled citizen and HandyDART user and fully support his sentiments. Also, reliable studies have shown that adding road infrastructure does not alleviate traffic congestion, it increases it.

Katherine Hammond justifiably bemoans port expansion plans that, as far as I can see, benefit no one but the stakeholders. Even they need good food to eat. Would they rather eat questionable produce from questionable sources imported by container ship at great cost to the environment upon which all life on Earth ultimately depends? This is not hippie nonsense, this is scientific reality. Growing our own food in the Fraser River delta and around the world is our last great hope for survival as a species.

Which brings us to the venerable Harold Steves’s letter. He has been around long enough to recognize a bad idea when he sees it. Let’s twin the tunnel and keep the Panamax freighters out of our precious estuary. Even the shipping industry admits that there will be regular “little” spills of fuel and every few decades a catastrophic spill. I prefer my critical fish habitat intact, thank you.

Finally, Stan Fraser bemoans the high price of parking in downtown Vancouver. I say double the gas tax and double the parking fees in such a transit-accessible area. I applaud Mr. Fraser’s attendance at the Truth and Reconciliation events, but in the face of oil and gas exploration, extraction, and (pipeline, railway, or trucking) transportation of fossil fuels in unceded Native territory, I have three other words for you: park and ride. Take that unspent parking fee, deduct your bus fare, and donate the rest to charity instead of expecting a for-profit parking concern to do the same.

> Caleb Sigurgeirson / Richmond

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