Don’t hire climate change staff person
Dear mayor and council:
I implore council to dismiss the well-meaning yet misguided notion of hiring a climate change staffer.
With council wrestling with even more tax hikes this year to help cover, in part, a projected five new employees — and I question the necessity of those positions too — a climate-change post is unnecessary and unaffordable.
Instead, we need mayor and council to table and adopt innovative green ideas from citizens and observation of green actions elsewhere.
The end game is to reduce carbon and other toxic wastes in our municipality, with an eye to having those initiatives debated and adopted by the City of Duncan and the CVRD.
We sure don’t need a staff member recommending climate action to council.
Those ideas are indeed already well known as noted by many residents and Island Heath brass: stop all outdoor burning year round; promote electric cars and more plug ins; end clearcutting and harvesting our municipal forest; ban plastic bags from shops and other outlets; promote and fund alternative fuels, such as ethanol, at the Cowichan Bio-Diesel Co-op; and finally pass a tree-cutting bylaw with teeth.
On that last item, I’d recommend hiring a municipal arborist rather than a climate-change staffer.
I do applaud council for its vision on climate-change considerations and programs that aren’t even on the radar at other B.C. municipalities and districts.
Peter W. Rusland
North Cowichan