Leaving oil in the ground and returning to the Stone Age would be a hard sell [“New climate for direct action”, March 28–April 4]. We have an abundance of energy—oil, natural gas, and coal—and there is a demand for it abroad.

The notion that we can keep supply from demand is unrealistic. We are still a sovereign nation because we have been willing to sell energy and resources.

Secondly, Canada’s biggest generator of greenhouse-gas emissions is population growth caused by mass immigration. For example, we find ourselves constantly short on infrastructure and housing that keeps our maximum-GHG-emitting construction industry hopping. Curbing or halting immigration would do far more to protect the environment than leaving energy in the ground.

Thirdly, the best way to reduce fossil-fuel use is to let the world population slowly decline. That should be the environmentalists’ main objective. If successful, all other environmental problems would be taken care of. And don’t panic until the global population is down by one billion people.

> Joe Bako / Vancouver