LETTER

LETTRE

A new hospital in a changing climate?

 

Don't the times today call for doing things differently?  Specifically, shouldn't we all be considering the effects of every public and private decision on our changing climate?  The Bulletin has carried many letters on the hospital's eventual location, and they are very interesting and seem to have touched all the concerns -- from space available to traffic generated, from Aylmer's needs, to the advantages of centralizing health services.  Revitalizing downtown cores and serving older people, spreading health services evenly in the Outaouais, etc, etc.   Except for one concern. It is the most important of them all; in fact, if it is not addressed, all the other advantages will be destroyed, and that is the environment -- our planet's future as its climate swings wilder and wider year after year.
    A new hospital here? Think about Australia and its out-of-control wild fires; think about BC and its heat domes and massive floods.  This is all heading our way, as climate change moves into the Out-of-Control phase. And our leaders are all pulling the corners of the blanket to their sides -- they want the spinoffs, the services, the new roads, votes, etc, etc -- everything that will be gone in a flash if we do not focus our planning on avoiding, mitigating or preventing catastrophic climate change!  
    Locating the new hospital must put environmental concerns at the top of our list -- or don't waste all the money and all the planning!
Jerz Adata
Aylmer