Dear Editor:
RE: Damaging, costly, Sept. 1.
In last week’s letter to the editor Henry Brunsveld paints a rosy picture of the planet due to increased CO2 emissions where “crop yields have doubled or quadrupled …and the number of deaths from weather and climate catastrophes has dropped by 97%.”
Craig Stewart, a vice president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, paints a gloomier picture of the same planet. “The 2022 federal budget should allocate robust funding … if we are to protect Canadians from the flood, wildfire, heat, wind, and hail events already growing in frequency and severity.”
He states, “Climate change is real, and the fatalities, emotional turmoil, and financial consequences we’ve recently witnessed must be a call to action – we must adapt now. Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 is a foundational step to limit our future risks from climate change, but we need funded measures implemented immediately to protect us from the worsening severe weather that is already happening.”
He continues, “Canada’s national climate plan will remain incomplete until such measures are identified and implemented. In today’s world of extreme weather events, the new normal for yearly insured catastrophic losses in Canada has become $2 billion, most of it due to water-related damage. Compare this to the period between 1983 and 2008, when Canadian insurers averaged only $422 million a year in severe weather-related losses.”
Put on your critical thinking caps and draw your own conclusions.
John Burger,
Orton