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Letters to the editor, Dec. 14

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Council made right call

Re: "Money can be better spent," Oct. 28.

The news is scary. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has issued an alert that in 2016 the density of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased at an unprecedented rate. This agency believes that the increase is 50 per cent more than the average increase over the past 10 years.

Scientists believe human activity and the El Nino phenomenon have caused the speed of carbon dioxide density to become unprecedented when compared to the past 600,000 years. The level of carbon dioxide that has accumulated around the globe exceeds that at any point in the past three to five million years.

The El Nino phenomenon causes drought in one part of the world, which in return decreases the plants' capacity to absorb carbon dioxide.

According to the agency report, the amount of emissions from human activity has decreased, but, according to scientists, the important thing is that the overall level of carbon dioxide has increased and will remain in our planet's atmosphere for hundreds of years.

The harmful effects of emissions are well known. According to the Lancet medical journal, pollution "from filthy air to contaminated water" is killing more people every year than all wars and violence. It is higher than death related to smoking, natural disasters, AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

According to this report, the financial cost of pollution related to death, sickness and welfare is incredible. Every year, humanity bears about $4.6 trillion losses or about 6.2 per cent of the global economy. Air pollution hurts poor people more than the wealthy few.

Letter writer Don Smith has complained about the council decision to spend $800,000 to build 29 charging stations in the city. The purpose of these devices is to promote the use of electric cars, which in the long run will be part of the solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. He believes this investment is a waste of taxpayers' money and only helps rich people who can afford to buy expensive electric cars. Unfortunately, the writer does not look at the bigger picture. Every electric car will help to reduce air pollution and helps the fight against climate change, no matter how expensive it is or who the driver is. In addition, not all electric cars cost $150,000. There are some that have prices comparable to conventional vehicles. One of the reasons they are not yet popular is because of the shortage of charging stations.

The council decision is a right one, and I hope the federal, provincial and local governments do more to cut emissions in order to meet Canada's commitment to the Paris agreement.

Mahmood Rowghani

Kingston

The Kingston Whig-Standard 2017 © 

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