Damned if we don't

Rehana Mushtaq in her letter on alternative sources of energy says all sources of energy must be tapped. I agree but let me remind her that these will not give us the much-needed water. There is a 22 percent shortage in rest of the year but a whopping 40 percent shortage for the Rabi crops. This translates into a 22 percent shortage of food resulting in higher food prices that are a bane for the poor. The Indian Punjab, much smaller than ours, is feeding the whole of India due to ample water and free electricity being provided to it by many dams.
Ms Mushtaq talks of the huge coal reserves but completely ignores the dangers of global warming that would result from burning of noxious coal and fossil fuels. Melting of glaciers will not only cause droughts in the long run but would also raise the sea levels by as much as 20 feet by end of the century. That is as much as one foot in five years. Imagine what will happen to Karachi if a 20 feet high killer wave runs over it? The press is failing miserably in its duty to inform the public about the very serious dangers of global warming. That is why the newspaper editors are quite content to go along with the anti-dam sentiments of the ill informed public. -KHURSHID ANWER, Lahore, via e-mail, November 23.