COLUMNIST MISSES POINT OF WOOD WASTE

Re: Campbell pushes industrial legacy (B.C. Views, Nov. 10)

Tom Fletcher, whose column I almost never read as it comes from the
opposite side of the fence, is optimistic about solving some of B.C.'s
electrical needs using what he calls waste wood from forestry.

The idea of waste wood producing electricity seems totally ignorant of
the role decaying vegetation plays in supporting new and old plant
growth. Decaying vegetation contains the right nutrients in the
correct proportion in forests that plants need.

In the case of the trees of B.C. forests, plant fibres play an
important role in maintaining soil structure and humus produced by
decaying plants is important in establishing the growth of new trees.
Soil degradation and depletion is one of the important problems we
face today - degraded soil cannot hold fertilizers, not even
Saskatchewan potash, except in clay soils.

Fletcher seems not to have heard of the desertification of large parts
of the Earth, know why Scotland is virtually treeless and trees cannot
be replaced, or heard why mining of soils in South America and near
territories with cane sugar left the soils so depleted and degraded
that it may never be possible to restore them.

Had he watched the Senate hearings broadcast on CPAC on use of illicit
drugs and the problems their use creates, he would have learned that
B.C. could reduce its electricity consumption by 40 per cent by
closing its illegal marijuana grow-ops.

Then there's legally grown marijuana plants, which require no less
light, heat and water than illegally grown ones, yet require as great
infrastructure support.

Ann Kuczerpa

Oak Bay