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OPINION: Make Earth Day really matter this year

Let’s do better so we can save our future
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Guest columnist Laura Sacks is increasingly anxious about how climate pollution will affect wildfires, like this one near Harrop last year. File photo

LAURA SACKS

Special to the Star

As we prepare to mark Earth Day, I find myself wondering about the kind of wildfire season we will experience this summer, and in the summers ahead. Like many, I am increasingly anxious about how rapidly the impacts of climate change are affecting us – from more intense storms and floods, to droughts and wildfires, to our imperilled oceans.

We can expect the impacts of climate change to get considerably worse for our children if we don’t start rapidly reducing our climate pollution – greenhouse gases that come primarily from burning fossil fuels.

According to the Auditor General’s recent report, both Federal and Provincial governments continue to show a lack of commitment to our children by not having sufficient plans to reduce climate pollution. Both levels of government are also actively encouraging development of oil and gas.

The Trudeau government, despite signing the Paris Agreement, continues to promote the growth of the oil sands and construction of pipelines.

And while BC’s Premier John Horgan stands firm against the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, his government is courting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) developers, offering $6 billion in tax breaks to sweeten the deal.

Any growth in emissions from the oil and gas sector means it will be ever harder – if not impossible - to deal with climate change. The rest of us – local citizens, businesses, and communities – would have to get to zero emissions much more rapidly to compensate.

Humanity is at a crossroads. If we choose “business as usual,” we put the future of our children and grandchildren at dire risk. If we choose the path toward clean energy prosperity, we invest in a future that provides jobs and a clean, safe environment for future generations.

While it can be hard to break with old ways of doing things, exciting new opportunities open up if we commit to a path toward a clean energy future.

Many jobs will be created - from retrofitting our buildings, low carbon transportation, renewable energy projects, and transitioning industries for a cleaner energy economy. We can have a more holistic relationship with our precious natural resources – our water, forests, and soils. A steadily rising carbon price and removing fossil fuel subsidies will help facilitate this.

Clearly those with vested interests feel threatened because a lot of money is on the table. We will need to include these folks in our conversations because we want to build a better future for their children, too.

The United Nations is using a unique tool this year, the Talanoa Dialogue. This inclusive and participatory process from Fiji encourages sharing stories and building empathy in order to make wise decisions for the collective good. Building trust and mutual respect will help us embrace a better future.

I am excited to think about being part of the solution, not part of the problem. What will it take to encourage our elected leaders to take bold steps toward a prosperous low carbon economy?

When a number of us from Citizens’ Climate Lobby travelled to Ottawa last fall to talk to our Members of Parliament about climate change, we heard repeatedly that they don’t hear enough from those of us who care. Our letters do make a difference.

Will you commit to giving our leaders the courage they need to help us make this transition in time to stave off the worst impacts of climate change?

On this Earth Day, please take a moment to write or phone your MP and MLA to tell them that you do care about leaving a livable world for your children and grandchildren.

I feel remorse when I imagine the wildfire season we will have by mid century if we miss this opportunity to end climate pollution. That is not the world I want my children to inherit. Let’s do better for them!

Laura Sacks is an environmental scientist, a Climate Reality Leader, and founder and co-leader of the local chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. She can be reached at NelsonBC@citizensclimatelobby.org.