Letters, May 26

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/05/2019 (2042 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Garbage in, garbage out

Re: City’s recycling cost to increase after too much ‘crap’ put into bins (May 18)

During my daily walks through my neighbourhood I frequently see recycle bins at the curbside, overstuffed with items that are obviously not acceptable for recycling, yet I have observed later in the day that the bins have been emptied.

If the contractor responsible for collecting recycling is not prepared to discourage obvious non-compliance by leaving the full bins at the curb, why would anyone expect behaviour to change?

Garry Drewlo

Winnipeg

 

What’s in your burger?

Re: Quebec cattle farmers want Beyond Meat to stop marketing itself as plant-based meat (May 15)

We are ranchers and very proud of the beef we raise. They are fed well and are livestock, not pets. They are raised for breeding stock and to feed the world. A&W has advertised that the meat it uses is free of hormones and chemicals… but all restaurants in Canada can say the same.

We raise cattle on thousands of acres of natural prairie and we use the animals’ manure for fertilizer. Coyotes, rabbits, deer and moose also reside there. If people decide to eat plant-based burgers that land will be ploughed under and the herbicides and other pesticides used for crops will be applied to grow crops for these burgers, which are also much higher in fat.

I’m not getting into the Frankensteinian idea of eating meat that was grown in a lab.

If you want less global warming, go out and eat an Angus burger today.

Linda McConnell

Pierson

 

Disturbing vandalism

Re: ‘No questions asked’: Parishioners pray for return of St. Volodymyr’s head (May 23)

We were deeply saddened, shocked and concerned to hear the news of the decapitation of the St. Volodymyr statue in Winnipeg, a work of the great Leo Mol, who very kindly donated a host of his bronze works of art for permanent display in your city’s Assiniboine Park. The police have described the incident as vandalism and theft.

Leo Mol’s works are well-known around the globe. Indeed, your readers may be interested to know that he was also the sculptor of the St. Volodymyr statue in Holland Park, London, which was funded by our relatively small Ukrainian community in Britain and unveiled in 1988 to mark the millennium of Christianity in Ukraine.

The attack on the statue in Winnipeg seems to me to be quite sinister in nature and I certainly hope that the police will do all that they can to bring the perpetrators to justice sooner rather than later to prevent further similar attacks on other iconic sculptures.

Fedir Kurlak

Chief Executive, Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain Ltd.

London, England

 

Get off your high penny-farthing

Re: Cycling advocates seek to plot safer city routes online (May 22)

I think cycling is great exercise and I applaud Anders Swanson of the Winnipeg Trails Association for his passion to make Winnipeg a safer city for bikers, but I wish he would stop preaching about the positive effects of biking as if it was some kind of elixir.

His latest is that, “if you look at your life expectancy, someone who rides a bike is going to live longer.” A random statement that is meaningless, meant to support his crusade for more bike paths.

The same logic used to support the crusade that one will live longer if they do not partake in the disgusting habit of smoking or drinking a bottle of vodka a day and several litres of wine, topped off with a few painkillers. There is proof that exercise and an absence of alcohol and drugs are beneficial to one’s health, but nobody can definitely prove it prolongs one’s life.

Everyone has vices and nobody has the moral right to preach their lifestyle as the “way” to the fountain of youth. Good for Anders Swanson and Bike Winnipeg for adopting what they believe is a healthy lifestyle; but advocacy is one thing, and preaching another. It is unbecoming and rather boring.

Kim Trethart

Winnipeg

 

Re: Peddling safer streets (May 23)

The captioned rider on your front page may have good intentions in his effort to increase bike safety. But, really? With no bike helmet and wearing all black — where is his high-visibility safety vest?

Is this the very epitome of irony?

Earle Johnson

Winnipeg

 

Abortion bans have consequences

Re: No time for complacency on reproductive rights (May 23)

There has been a great deal of opposition to the anti-abortion laws passed in some U.S. states, and rightfully so. But there are other negative ramifications to these draconian anti-women’s-freedom laws.

In 2005, economist Steven Levitt with writer Stephen Dubner published the book Freakonomics. In it, they argue that the dramatic drop in American crime in the 1990s can be attributed to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that made abortion legal in 1973. They describe clearly, with a great deal of context, that since many crimes are committed by young people in socio-economically distressed environments, abortions by women in these situations shortly after the ruling helped to reduce crime 15 to 20 years later.

Unfortunately, social conservatives, the proponents of these anti-abortion laws, are more concerned about ideology then any unintended consequences, such as an increase in crime in years to come. Considering conservatives’ anti-crime and harsh-punishment agenda, their anti-abortion laws could be counterintuitive, and very costly.

Dan Cecchini

Winnipeg

 

Pet ownership not a simple matter

Re: Councillors vote to put down dogs that mauled five-year-old girl (May 22)

Good for the Winnipeg city councillors who struggled with the decision on whether to euthanize the dogs who attacked five-year-old Semiah Laquette. Pet ownership is not a simple thing. Owning a dog must also mean understanding the consequences of your pet ownership on the rest of society.

The Canada Safety Council reports that there are an estimated 500,000 dog bites a year in Canada; 42 Canadians are bitten every hour by a dog. Since 1983, dogs have killed more than 40 people in Canada. The problem with dogs as pets does not end with the personal safety of young children, who are most often the victims of dog attacks.

Dog waste, estimated to be 1.1 million tonnes in Canada, goes to landfills or backyards. According to the Canadian Animal Health Institute, dog waste is considered the leading cause of pollution in urban watersheds and 30 per cent of all bacteria in the watersheds of large municipalities can be attributed to dog waste.

And then there is the environmental footprint that dogs leave. A recent UCLA study on pet food consumption says it may be responsible for the release of up to “64 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.”

Pet ownership may have some personal benefits, but it can also have a decidedly negative impact on our environment and our health and safety.

Jerry Storie

Winnipeg