Letters to the Editor

LINDSAY

ADVOCAT E

What a waste of time

Robinson Orume’s article (Happiness Comes from Community, not Material Possessions, Jan. edition of the Advocate) reveals the truth regarding suggested recycling efforts on the part of the general public.

We, the householders, thought we were doing our part regarding separating recyclable material from landfill items and, in some cases, composting to “save the environment.”

Now, we find out that municipalities are negating our efforts by dumping everything into landfills just to “save a buck” while continuing to appear “holier than thou” by enforcing the separation of compostable material from recycles.

My faith in “the system” has been irreparably damaged. J. R. Baldwin, Omemee The Advocate offered the city’s waste management department a chance to respond. Here is that reply, edited for length; Kawartha Lakes has two recycling streams: plastics and fibre. We also have programs to help divert items such as mattresses, and construction and demolition materials, for hazardous waste such as paints and batteries, and even for clean wood. The market for recycling has drastically changed in the past few years. What used to be a profitable space is now even more of an expense as it is extremely difficult to find companies to buy the reused material.

Climate change: We influence our world

Climate change is a natural process, says one of your readers. Yes, it is a natural process. It goes on for millions of years. The two-and-a-half degree of variations in the earth’s axis we take into consideration. The undeniable fact is you don’t have to be an engineer to understand that what we as people do to our world will influence our climate in years to come.

Gunter Schubert, Lindsay

I take complete exception to Gene Balfour’s opening salvo in his most recent (of many) letters to the editor (The “Our Place” Dilemma, Dec. 2020 Advocate). To call Toronto “impersonal and ruthless” is both wrong and cruel. Aside from having roots in the Kawarthas for seven generations, I also have deep roots in Toronto and live in the same neighbourhood where my great-grandparents resided. We have street parties, we shovel our neighbours’ walkways, we bring food to the elderly on our street, and bang pots every evening at 7:30 p.m. to show our gratitude for frontline workers. What part of any of that fits Mr. Balfour’s description? I hope he is better at doling out advice to flailing investment bankers than he is in describing the city of Toronto.

Biz Agnew, Toronto

Devil is in the details on any kind of Reset

Like Trevor Hutchinson, I am interested in The Great Reset movement (Trevor’s Take, Jan. Advocate) that was formally announced with the slogan “build back better” in June 2020 by the founder and chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Dr. Klaus Schwab.

I recently read Schwab’s book The Fourth Industrial Revolution and concluded that he is a very intelligent, highly informed man. As someone with Libertarian-Conservative political views, I did not “freak out” as Trevor suggested, and I don’t see the Reset as conspiracy theory. Instead, I am aware that top-down central planning by well-connected uber-powerful elites may have its merits. However, history also records past attempts by national leaders to centrally plan and economically control their nationstates. Some of these produced the unintended consequences of extreme hardship and even death to many people.

Like many things in life, the devil is always in the details. Knowing the motives behind those planning the agenda is vital. For me, one of the biggest questions is how well will their global agenda align with our best interests?

Gene Balfour, Fenelon Falls

Climate alarmists versus climate deniers

I was dismayed by assertions made in James Lindsay’s letter on climate change published in the January issue of the Advocate. He suggests that the term “climate change deniers” is offensive, but then goes on to argue that “climate change alarmists” are politically motivated. Celebrate in The rapid rise (in temperatures) we have seen in the last two centuries, and especially in the past 80 years is February!at rates substantially more rapid than both geologic and AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY paleontological data suggest ever occurred during the AND CURBSIDE PICK UP Pleistocene ice age. The post-industrial changes we are now experiencing are being measured in decades, not in Order early and receive a complimentary gift for millennia. Valentine’s orders delivered

The assertion that there is an alarmist United Nations on or before February 12th. agenda on climate change is highly uninformed. The UN’s Code word “roses are red” World Meteorological Organization (WMO) acts as a global coordinator and clearing house of scientific research and policy development on global warming. The Paris www.kentflorist.net • cf Accord is just one of the many outputs of this global 92 Kent St. W. • Lindsay, ON • (705) 324-7314 • (800) 669-4942 initiative aimed at better understanding and responding to global temperature increases. Kent Florist 1/4.indd 1 2021-01-15 3:30 PMIt is suggested that geologic/volcanic events cause for the Nazis. Hutchinson could also review what the climate change. This is an inaccurate understanding of Open Society Foundations actually believes. The old the distinction between weather and climate. There can normal was indeed full of injustice and inequality but be little or no dispute that global warming is upon us. if he somehow believes that an Open Society created For example, 2016 and 2020 have been recorded as the by billionaires like Soros would somehow bring about hottest years ever since records began. justice and equality, I suggest Hutchinson is the only one

Thus, should we be alarmed about the rate of global wearing a tinfoil hat. warming? Yes. Is being alarmed “politically motivated”? Gord Travis, Lindsay No. It is plain common sense based on widespread and readily available scientific evidence. From the Advocate: The 60 Minutes interview the writer John Rogge, Bobcaygeon refers to was broadcast in 1998. According to the Washington Post, George Soros, a Hungarian Jew, never Is Hutchinson the worked for the Nazis; he was nine years old when the one with the tinfoil hat? Second World War started. (An image of another young

Since the International Monetary Fund is already man, Oskar Groening, in the uniform of the SS, has suggesting that our online presence should be used to circulated online accompanied by the false claim that calculate credit scores perhaps Trevor Hutchison should it depicts Soros.) Soros survived — unlike 90 per cent rethink what he considers a dog whistle. (Trevor’s Take: of Jewish children in Europe — because a Hungarian Maybe We Need Some Kind of Reset, Jan. Advocate.) Christian took him in. The stated mission of the Open

The last time I watched 60 Minutes Mr. Soros, the Society Foundations is “to build vibrant and inclusive billionaire, was openly admitting how much he enjoyed democracies whose governments are accountable to confiscating his own people’s possessions while he worked their citizens.”

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The Lindsay Advocate welcomes your Letters to the Editor. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity or length. Simply email kawarthalakespublisher@gmail.com. Please keep your letters to 200 words or less. www.lindsayadvocate.ca