To The Editor,

Hey, how ya’ doin’; yeah, it’s me again. I thought maybe we could chat for a bit. I feel that climate change and global warming, which are coming on like a freight train, are being eclipsed by the pandemic. It is still a force to be reckoned with that we are underestimating severely. Every year, 30 million tons of plastic are created around the world; out of that nine per cent is recycled, 12 per cent is incinerated and the remaining 79 per cent is put in landfills and our environment; eight million tons end up in our oceans every year.

I still believe trees are our best resource for stemming the tide of destruction we have embarked on, especially after the world federation recently stated that pollution and deforestation are the main causes for climate change.

Let’s talk agriculture. I’m sure hackles are going up with some readers. Relax, I’m not out to trash you, but farming has changed greatly over the last three decades, mainly due to the Canadian government getting in bed with Monsanto. The way I figure, the government wasn’t making enough off you farmers financially because you were using your own seeds from the previous year and chemical use was minimal, so the government figures the corporate company will make a ton of money. The government will make a ton of money off the taxes for round-up-ready corn seeds and round-up-ready soy seeds, along with all the herbicides and pesticides put in your fields. What you have to remember is the government doesn’t give a damn about you, or me, or any other citizen, especially indigenous people.

There is something in the soil called organic matter. Unlike organic material that consists of old corn stalk and old crops in the field, organic matter is a microbial sponge-like material that exists in clean soil. In good soil, it runs 12 to 14 per cent, but due to excessive chemical use it starts at two per cent now. This is why when it rains the water just rolls off, not being absorbed. As it stands, the amount of chemicals used is not sustainable.

I have a lot of respect for some farmers, and next to none for others. I still find that dairy farmers are the hardest working of all of them, and I am not saying that because some are my neighbors – these people work their butt’s off.

Let’s get back to the trees. I know some farmers in Ontario want to be really big like the farms out west, yet out west no trees, drought conditions, no crops – not enough for their livestock. Why you want to be like them is beyond me, but like you always say “My land, screw you”.

So go for it, why don’t you clear cut all of Ontario, it will take you 17 years from Cornwall to Timmins. Of course you’ll turn the province into a toxic dust cloud that won’t grow anything for you, but hey what have you got to lose? Just the livelihood you love and your future, along with ours. I repeat: not all farmers are out to kill the planet, but some really are, just for a buck.

This planet was created with safeguards built in, such as trees, bogs, swamps, Meeskeys and life rafts to help us survive. I feel like I’m on the Titanic and we’re going down, but we don’t even have life boats for the women and children. We’ve already destroyed them all.

Everything has a beginning, and everything has an end, and the sad part is because of your actions and inaction, the children are being forced to face their end before their beginning was anywhere near being fulfilled. That falls on us.

Deforestation is like quicksand. The more trees we remove, the faster we go down for the count. What we’ve done is hard to repair, but don’t you think we owe young people a future? I do.

Don’t worry. You’ll forget this letter real fast, just like high tech wants you to.

Merry Christmas,

Andy Perreault

Vankleek Hill

P.S. When will South Nation Conservation release the 2020 forestry coverage numbers?