In comment to Tom Fletcher’s April 18 column “Environmentalism for dummies”:
I’m wondering who the dummies are? I noticed that after his attack on David Suzuki, he says he cheered as Pat Moore, Bob Hunter and the other 1970s Greenpeace pioneers set out from Vancouver to disrupt Soviet nuclear testing.
In actual fact, it was the United States (our neighbours) nuclear testing that Greenpeace was trying to disrupt. A minor detail? Well, he goes on to say, “Greenpeace opposed aquaculture because it destroys tropical mangrove swamps,” and “Tropical prawn farms have no rational connection to B.C., but a global organization needs simple ideas that sell.”
The fact that Greenpeace is a global organization, is in itself enough because it obviously doesn’t need tropical prawn farms to have any visible connection to B.C. for them to oppose tropical prawn farming.
I notice in the attack on Suzuki, he links the David Suzuki Foundation with what he terms large U.S. foundations that fund most of B.C.’s, and I quote, “enviro-scare industry.”
Tom Fletcher ignores the fact that when Greenpeace was disrupting U.S. nuclear tests, our prime minister was in obvious agreement with what Greenpeace was doing and said so.
We were concerned with our neighbour’s dangerous actions, and rightly so. If our neighbours see us as causing an environmental hazard that could obviously affect them they should be concerned.
After all not only is the U.S.A. our neighbour we are literally living on a watershed.
Also, he ignores the fact that our present government is collaborating with China to fast track industrial issues ahead of the environment we all live in.
Tim Birmingham
Cawston