I stand against the proposed Raven coal mine and strongly in favor of a more prosperous and healthy future for all peoples.
One hundred years ago, in the midst of capitalism heydays a coal mine was a welcome addition to economic development. Today however we must all show our maturity and responsibility in the face of new realities; the needs of mother earth and the collective health of both human and non-human animals.
This should not be about a couple of hundred jobs or whether roads and trucks are safe; this should be, this must be about the future, the kind a future our children and their children will live with.
This paper’s editor suggests our need for steel production, as if our not approving of it could somehow harm us. If modern capitalism’s ferocious appetite for consuming this planet’s resources is dependent on our little island, then we are all in very serious trouble indeed.
Coal is a dirty, unhealthy energy resource; there is no such thing as clean coal. Although no one local may enjoy the abuse of black lung, others will receive the unhealthy rewards of our local coal.
Let us all have a hand in building a cleaner, more careful future. New ways of economic production will be found, a new direction must be taken.
Dallas Collis
Parksville