Editor:
Going back to your “year-in-review” edition. I pay special attention to the letters to the editor page of our weekly paper, where it seems that in the Year 2022 there were recurrent concerns being addressed by letter writers. In no particular order: 1) ferry service, 2) housing supply, 3) water, 4) Highway 101. The common denominator as recognized by many writers related to an “umbrella issue”; the rate of development that so many of us see going on around us. So, my curiosity was raised when I came to a small article in the New Year’s edition about the seven stories most followed by online readers. None of the above issues were mentioned. Curious. Was there a disconnect here?
I became an online reader this year, because I couldn’t wait to see the latest stories in our Friday paper. The news that I was compelled to stay ahead of was the crisis of our critically diminished water supply in the watershed above us. Photos of the lakes, or what remained of them, water level measurements, weather forecasts, changing contingency plans all became information that I couldn’t wait for. I want to thank the SCRD staff and the Coast Reporter for working together to make this dire situation front page news for weeks on end.
In my mind this is all about our particular (so far) climate change wake up moment. It’s January and recent weather has brought rain, snow, melting and once again water running down the mountain slopes. However, we are still in the grip of climate change. It’s a four-season affair, not limited to summer and now fall. Or, last year, but not this year. We still need to keep our attention focussed. I would like to see these same types of water stories continued that were provided by our regional government and local paper when we were in “crisis.” There is an important educational and information role to be filled –12 months a year.
Climate change is not seasonal.
David Diether
Gibsons
