FEATURED COMMENT – Prosperous economy impossible without a hospitable planet
(Stephen Thomas via Flickr)
Re: editorial, “Accept no bafflegab from candidates,” Feb. 17, 2017.
To characterize the (perceived) conflict between the environment and the economy as a choice between the planet and jobs reveals a profound misapprehension of actual realities. Even now, both nationally and internationally, renewable energy is responsible for far more job creation than the fossil fuels industry. Furthermore, it is obvious that without a hospitable planet, a prosperous economy can’t exist.
The real question is who will be the winners and who will be the losers in the inevitable shift to sustainable energy production and consumption. The longer we delay and serve the interests of the fossil fuel industry the more we cede the opportunity to lead the world with new technologies and a revitalized economy to those willing to take the risk and the initiative.
This is an issue upon which real leadership, at all levels of governance, is so desperately needed. Unfortunately, that kind of leadership is proving inconsistent with the way politics is “done” in the 21st.
DAVID GOAR
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Agree with David 100%. The idea that economic health can somehow be tied to ‘growth’, while at the same time living on a finite planet with finite resources should be cause for concern.
I also agree that we’re falling behind in the race for sustainability. It’s a sad state of affairs when mega-polluter China is making us look bad… Do we really want to become a third world energy country?
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As much as I would like Mr. Goar comment to be un-refutable, others like Mr. Jack Mintz have different opinions. Mr. Mintz is in charge of the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary and a regular columnist in pertinent media source. It is always worth reading from a breadth of sources.
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