Dear Editor:
RE: Carbon charge shock, July 11.
Last week, letter writer Paul Roberts asked Advertiser readers to think about the federal carbon tax that adds 15.3 cents per cubic metre to the cost of natural gas for home heating – the price went up about 3 cents on April 1 from the previous levy of 12.54 cents – calling it a “disturbing change.”
The whole idea of a steadily increasing carbon tax is to prod Canadians to switch from burning fossil gases in our homes and cars to far less polluting and climate-disrupting alternatives such as heat pumps and electric vehicles.
This week, readers might well think about another “disturbing change”: the frightening and immense price humans and wildlife are already paying for the prolonged heat domes, windstorms, floods, wildfires and droughts that so many in Canada and around the world are now experiencing.
These extreme weather events are all made worse by burning fossil fuels that overload our atmosphere with carbon dioxide, a climate heating gas which acts like a heat blanket that persists for hundreds of years – even long after we stop adding to it.
The carbon tax is a small price to pay by comparison and, thanks to the federal carbon rebate, it gets even smaller after switching to greener options like heat pumps. Something more to think about.
Liz Armstrong,
Erin