To fit more people, we need to think small
Re: “We’ve doubled the world’s population,” letter, June 1.
It seems the world is up to its neck in humans; apparently our population, now around eight billion, is still growing. While many see this as a serious problem, it shouldn’t be. There are technological solutions that can ease our anxiety; creating a better, healthier life for all.
One that is already having a big impact on our future is CRISPR, short for “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. It’s a gene editing tool that allows for the modification of existing life, creating “new” life forms.
If used by right-thinking individuals it will undoubtedly increase our odds of survival in an ever-evolving and ever-challenging environment.
But time is running out. To save ourselves from ourselves, we need to get busy creating a human population that needs and consumes less.
This is something that can be easily accomplished by modifying our genome. All that’s needed to make this a success is agreement on an ideal size.
Just think of the benefits. Smaller people need less of everything: less food, smaller houses, smaller vehicles, less land and most importantly, less life-essential resources.
At the same time, our smaller size will create a whole new world of outdoor thrills and adventures, thereby redefining tourism. Just ask Gulliver.
What’s not to like?
Ken Dwernychuk
Esquimalt
Local strawberries come at a high cost
I bought local strawberries from the roadside market — a pint of them for $8.50.
In shock when I got home, I counted out the number of berries: 24 — equating to 35.4 cents a berry!
Let’s hope supply will soon exceed the demand!
Les East
Saanich
D-Day veterans are remembered in France
Thank you for the excellent elegy to the veterans of D-Day. I am sad to hear that the stories are “forgotten” on Vancouver Island, because they are certainly not forgotten in Normandy.
I am in France right now (my mother was a little girl here in the region during the war) and I can assure readers that the Canadians (and British and Americans) are anything but forgotten here — they are remembered every day with gratitude, warmth and love.
Katherine Palmer Gordon
Gabriola Island
Let’s match Danielle Smith’s idea on the drug problem
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ should take a long, hard look at Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s common sense approach to drugs.
To quote, “there is no such thing as a safe supply of fentanyl or heroin in any of its derived forms or crystal meth. Those are not safe drugs.”
Her province is pioneering a recovery-orientated model that offers addicts treatment for up to a year if necessary as well as opportunities to develop job skills. The goal is to give addicts help and support for a new start in life.
Good common sense!
Ann Nelms
Victoria
A stronger military? Fill some of those jobs
Re: “They have right to query military spending,” letter, May 31.
Bit of a correction: NATO has 32 member states, and as of today 14 have not met their defence spending target of two per cent of GDP. So ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ is hardly alone. Right now barely more than half of NATO members meet their two per cent target.
Moreover, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ in fact pays 6.684 per cent of NATO’s total costs — more than 26 other members. Only the U.S., Germany, U.K., Italy and France pay more. ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ has fewer people than Spain or Turkey, for example, yet we pay more into NATO than they do.
The U.S., of course, blows more on its military than any country, taking a whopping $3,680 from every man, woman and child there (compared to just $960 per Canadian).
So the U.S. readily covers much of NATO’s tab. It’s a pittance to them; the U.S. obviously has lots more spilling over for Zelenskyy and Netanyahu.
Moreover, it’s true that before Putin’s invasion, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ produced just 3,000 artillery shells a month, but we’re already up to 5,000 a month now.
And ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ has started implementing a modern ground-based air defence system (though the Pentagon admits its own ballistic missile system can’t stop conventional Russian or Chinese nukes, let alone cruise and hypersonic missiles).
Meanwhile, even as we pump more and more taxpayer money into military spending, we fail to meet our UN climate financing pledge. And our jets and warships keep on emitting more pollution than any other government department.
So here’s a thought: maybe those who think ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ needs a stronger military could step up to the plate. Right now, about one of every seven armed forces jobs is sitting vacant.
Bill Johnstone
Victoria
Government should spend more on military
The federal government is embarrassing because they are spending proportionally less on defence than our NATO allies and many countries with fewer resources than ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½.
Looking back to the post Second World War period, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ was a major contributor to defence. Now we have a federal government who does not meet defence commitments and is growing the federal civil service in leaps and bounds with little noticeable increase in benefits to its citizens.
I am worried that in these troubled times our future stability may be compromised by the lack of defence spending.
It is time the federal government met its commitments to safeguard the well-being of its citizens.
David Bartley
Sidney
Football at university makes more sense
Although the University of Victoria isn’t in downtown Victoria, it has an excellent stadium for football as well as parking. It won’t require extensive renovations. It is easily accessible and won’t displace the beloved HarbourCats.
There is a good, functioning bus service for fans. Was it even considered?
Sally Barker
North Saanich
Take stronger action on blasting bylaw
Oak Bay is revamping its blasting bylaw — certainly an opportunity to include provisions that protect nearby properties.
Sadly, at a recent council meeting, apart from councillors Cairine Green and Hazel Braithwaite, other council members shrugged their shoulders – only agreeing to consulting online.
One of the prime responsibilities of a municipality is to protect its residents — why else have street lighting, police, fire, animal control, zoning, etc. Blasting surely fits.
Owners of properties where blasting will occur are required to hire a third party to undertake a pre-blasting survey. Hopefully, nearby properties will be included, but that is not ensured. Neither will an affected homeowner necessarily have any say on who is hired to do the survey or that its results will be shared.
If the report is not thorough or accurate, how will they know? What recourse will they have if damage to their property ensues? On what basis can they make a claim? An owner can take pre-emptive action — lots of photographs, hiring their own surveyor – involving considerable time, effort and cost. How fair is this for a situation they have not caused?
What if damage does occur? What if it is extensive, how long will it take to resolve? Will the home be livable?
On checking with a home insurer, they asserted that “no insurance company’s policy provides coverage against blasting damage.”
This means the affected property owner will have to deal directly with the blasting firm’s insurer — but the scales are strongly tilted against the individual homeowner.
Blasters have many resources, for the affected homeowner hiring a lawyer will only add to their costs.
Oak Bay council is passing up an opportunity to make a difference, adjust an outstanding wrong, and set an example for other municipalities.
Diana Butler
Victoria
Langford’s tax increase is higher than stated
Re: “Why Langford’s tax increase is a smart move for the future,” commentary, May 31.
Langford Coun. Keith Yacucha provided a commentary explaining the rationale behind Langford’s recent tax increase and breakdown of new spending.
Yacucha stated that “Langford council announced a 15.63% budget increase.” This isn’t accurate and doesn’t offer full transparency into Langford’s increased spending.
Langford is the fastest-growing municipality in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ That means a growing tax base and increased revenue, even without a tax rate increase.
If you look closely at Langford’s financial statements, you will find that when the growing tax base and tax rate increase are both considered, Langford’s property tax revenue has increased by 19.80% (from $45 million to nearly $54 million).
Likewise, Langford’s total operating budget has increased by 20.55% (from about $68 million to about $82 million).
Shannon Pendergast
Langford
Give youth, seniors free transit passes
I would like to applaud Oak Bay council for having the foresight to pass two resolutions pertaining to free public transit for youth and seniors, one of which calls for the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ government to address this issue and make it provincewide.
It is something I have written to the Victoria council about in recent years, and I urge them to follow in Oak Bay’s footsteps. Having witnessed the success of this program for seniors over 65 in the U.K., I would highly recommend it being rolled out here too as a wonderful green initiative.
Joanne Wiggins
Victoria
Smaller batteries, gas engines are future
Re: “Canadians interest in EVs fades as barriers, concerns remain: study,” May 31.
Atop the business section is an article proclaiming that Canadians are losing interest in electric vehicles. Who can blame them? As cited, charging stations are few and far, and long distances present real challenges. Plus, gigantic batteries are heavy, toxic and expensive.
But this is not the time to lose faith as two new vehicles point the way to a sustainable future.
The BMW i3 REX and the 2025 Dodge Ramcharger 1500 both have much smaller batteries — about one-quarter the size of comparable extended range vehicles, but they also have gas engines to charge their batteries and eliminate range limitations.
The stats are very compelling. The Dodge truck is expected to have a battery-only range of more than three times the average daily driving distance of 60 km, where 90 per cent of driving is done.
The gas engine will be the 3.6 litre V6 and be able to tow 14,000 pounds, compared to the current 5.7-litre Hemi that can tow 10,000 pounds. On gas it will have a range of nearly 1,100 kilometres.
The BMW accomplishes similar results with just a small motorcycle battery. Thus we could have 90 per cent or more reductions in emissions without range or performance anxiety and with much lesser need for lithium batteries. Surely this is the future.
David A. McIntyre
Victoria
Yesterday’s ideas gave us better lives
Re: “Beware Conservatives, with yesterday’s ideas,” letter, May 30.
In my day, an average income would allow a family to purchases a modest home. Schools provided a basic education, with some individual responsibility for a future education for a job or career.
There was order in our communities and police, teachers, volunteer firefighters, nurses and doctors, even political leaders were respected.
Everyone had a family doctor. There was little fast food and there were family meals. The only electronics, television.
In my time, smoking has become socially unacceptable. Today’s politicians are ignoring the power of education in addressing the addiction problem.
In my community, politicians enable drug use and disorder. My grandchildren won’t ever afford to buy a modest home.
I have lived the best of times. I’m so disappointed in the politicians of today, with no imagination, no innovation or accountability to solve the problems that they have created in just few decades.
Politicians at all levels.
I wish my grandchildren could benefit from yesterday’s ideas.
Phil Harrison
Comox
Beware the candidates in the Conservatives
We need to be very wary of any political party that attracts to its candidate ranks some of the types apparent in the Conservative Party headed up by John Rustad.
Three have already been punted from his gang and we have no idea how many more like these are lying in the weeds, yet to be detected.
We need only to look south of us to see what happens when folks of this ilk get political support.
John Stevenson
Victoria
Pickleball is noisy, but what about …
If people want to ban pickleball due to noise, then in fairness they should want to ban traffic and aircraft noise, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chainsaws, crowd sports (baseball, soccer, rugby, etc.), music concerts, and even those pesky birds that start chirping outside our windows at the crack of dawn.
Maybe if those staunchly against pickleball took a moment to play a game or two, they’d discover just how enjoyable it is.
Then perhaps the noise wouldn’t seem so annoying.
Lee Gabel
View Royal
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