Letters to the editor Sept. 6, 2018

Article content

Apologies

I almost don’t know whether to take Kevin Hursh’s piece, “Farmers at odds with climate change activists,” (SP, Aug. 9) seriously.

Immediately after lamenting how easily one can be painted as a climate change denier, he so perfectly captures the arguments of a climate change denier that satire seems to be the only logical conclusion.

Per Climate Change Denial 101, Hursh concedes that climate change is happening but quickly points out that we don’t know exactly how much is anthropogenic, that there isn’t perfect harmony among predictions, and that the term “climate change” was conveniently adopted to capture any anomalous weather event. Classic.

He then admits that this year has been bad for crop damage and drought, but sanitizes global record-breaking weather events by noting that his father and grandfather also faced bad farming years.

Glossing over widespread flooding, drought, and storms, Hursh claims that there may be agricultural “winners” if climate change models are to be believed, and that climate change activists are the real threat to farmers (a point made hastily in the penultimate paragraph by linking pipeline blocking to a reduction of train space to get produce to market). This facile argument seems to be the main point of the article but is tacked on at the end, without support.

This column is an uneven argument against climate science, positioning one group against another without nuance and with the intent of further stalling attempts to mitigate the impacts of climate change. It’s either a great piece of satire, or it’s the work of a climate change denier.

Jody Hanson 

Saskatoon

Remove your keys

As a 10-year resident of Saskatchewan it still amazes me that SGI insures vehicles that have keys left in the ignition.

Even more alarming is the same people who are screaming about rural defense and lack of police are the same people that fail to remove keys from their one-tonne vehicles.

They are providing the ways and means for the crime and dangerous assaults to continue.

They are providing the means of escape for those they wish to keep off of their properties.

For what reason?

Is it even possible to argue someone does not have time to remove keys from their vehicles?

In what world does anyone believe this argument?

If you ever paid insurance in another province you would know we have the best rates for insurance in the country. The cost of stolen vehicles is passed on to those who pay insurance and is shared amongst us all.

Should this continue I imagine SGI will be the next to get sold off when our government argues they are not profitable.

Help protect not-for-profit insurance and remove your keys like a responsible vehicle owner.

You may even save a life.

SGI, it is time to quite covering these losses and protect the communities we live in.

Jamie Desjardins

Wilkie

SHARE YOUR VIEWS

The StarPhoenix welcomes letters, which are limited to 250 words and must include the writer’s name, street address and phone number.

Submissions will be verified and edited before publication.
We publish the names and community of all letter writers.
Do not send email attachments.
Writing more than one letter a month is discouraged and “open” letters are not accepted.
Send to: 204 Fifth Ave. N., Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2P1

Fax: 306-657-6437

Email: letters@thestarphoenix.com