My descendants will suffer climate change - From the Cluttered Desk with Keith Roulston

It’s hard to believe, given the cold winter we’ve been suffering through, but the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service says that last year was the third-warmest in modern history and that the last 11 years have been the 11 hottest ever recorded.

 

Meanwhile, the Canadian Climate Institute says Canada is not on track to meet any of its climate goals. Some of this is because we, the people, just don’t want to suffer the cost. Because so many consumers resented the extra cost of the carbon tax on gasoline, the tax was dropped by the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney, as people who were against the cost moved toward supporting the Conservatives.

 

As of 2023, Canada had achieved only a nine per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S., by comparison, had reduced emissions by 17 per cent.

 

But that’s about to change. U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is rescinding the legal finding to limit the heat-trapping pollution that spews from vehicle tailpipes, oil refineries and factories.
“We are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy,” Trump said at a news conference. “This determination had no basis in fact - none whatsoever. And it had no basis in law. On the contrary, over the generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty all over the world.” 

 

Major environmental groups have disputed the administration’s stance on the endangerment finding and have been preparing to sue in response to its repeal.

 

The endangerment finding underpinned the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from vehicles and power plants and to mandate that companies report their emissions. It required the federal government to take action on climate under the Clean Air Act.

 

But, unlike so many of Trump’s policies which have lost him support, I wouldn’t be surprised if the American people praised him on the climate change issue. We can blame politicians for not tackling climate change, but we, the people, do not want the inconvenience or added expense that tackling climate change brings. Do you remember a few years ago the fuss that was raised by people who lived near electricity-generating wind turbines? 

 

My ancestors came to Canada nearly two centuries ago on sailing ships that took weeks to make the journey. Today, even diesel-powered ships that can cross the Atlantic in a week are too slow. We can fly to Australia in a fraction of that time. We spew climate-changing fumes into the air as we travel, but who wants to think about that when we have the pleasure of seeing life in far-off lands?

 

I’m an old man so I won’t live to see the worst of climate change. My grandchildren and great-grandchildren will experience the change, unless we quickly, and significantly change our habits. On one hand, Premier Doug Ford has been a staunch opponent of the consumer carbon tax. On the other, his government has promoted new nuclear energy plants, both full-sized and smaller modular systems.

 

Canadian federal authorities have two problems dealing with climate change. On one hand, consumers don’t like paying for change. On the other, people in Alberta and elsewhere in the prairies don’t like anything that will hurt their oil industry, like preventing the burning of gas and oil.

 

So climate change is one of the most difficult political issues to come along. On one hand, people don’t want to face the changes needed to tackle the problem but on the other, climate scientists tell us we have only a relatively short time to change our way of life or life on earth will become unbearable.

 

The latest U.S. action is the Trump administration’s most significant attempt yet to diminish efforts to address climate change. The U.S. officially left the 2015 Paris Agreement for the second time last month and is also expected to withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, leaving America without a meaningful voice in global climate talks. 

 

Trump, who has called climate change a “con job”, cancelled nearly $8 billion in funding for clean energy projects in October (though a judge later ruled that some of those terminations were unlawful). And the Energy Department announced last week that it will spend $175 million to extend the lives of six coal plants - the latest in a series of moves to prop up coal. 

 

No matter his apparent belief that he will live forever, President Trump will not live to see the consequences of his climate change policies. Pity those who are here in 50 years to experience the world of a changed climate.