What are you doing for the planet? - Keith Roulston editorial
Such is the human mind that we generally focus on one threat at a time. So when the United Nations issued a warning that we needed to act fast to prevent catastrophic effects from climate change, many people didn’t pay much attention because they were focusing instead on the threats of the war on Ukraine.
The war on Ukraine is an immediate threat, of course, especially for residents of Ukraine and neighbours who worry that Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue his apparent aim to reconstruct Russia’s Soviet empire. Still, while the possibility of nuclear war is concerning to western governments, the biggest threat to future generations seems to come from our changing climate.
Earlier in April, U.N. Secretary General Antonia Guterres issued a warning that while 196 governments in Paris in 2015 pledged to reduce the impact of climate change to below 2˚C, preferably to 1.5˚C, compared to pre-industrial levels, governments have not cut climate emissions by 45 per cent, which would be required to meet the goal, but instead have increased emissions by 14 per cent.
Many Canadians offer a shrug when the whole issue of climate change is raised. After all, they argue, what can a country of less than 40 million people do to change the world dominated by large emitters like China, the U.S., India, Russia and Japan?
We conveniently ignore the fact that on a per-person basis, Canadians are among the world’s worst emitters. We do, after all, live in a huge country that’s cold in winter, which means we need to heat our houses to stay warm and we burn gas to get from place to place.
Many, however, doubt that our federal government, despite its promises to have Canada abide by its promises, is really conscientious in changing, After all, the federal government bought and built (with our money) the Trans Mountain pipeline (now estimated to cost $21.4 billion instead of the original estimate of $7.4 billion to transport Alberta’s oil to the west coast. It also, recently, approved a new oil-production facility off the coast of Newfoundland.
Meanwhile, our Ontario government, with an election approaching, is trying to have us forget about climate concerns. Premier Doug Ford not only halted construction of wind farms because they increased electricity costs, but he also cut electricity rates, putting $6 billion a year of electrical charges onto the taxpayer’s tab. (I must admit this is a gift to our family since we heat with electricity-powered geothermal.)
Until recently at our gas station, you could see the remnants of the stickers the Premier required gas stations to put on gas pumps that pointed out the federal government was increasing the cost of gasoline through its carbon tax.
Out west, meanwhile, in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, provincial governments gain support by opposing federal efforts to trim our fossil energy use.
And why wouldn’t governments oppose efforts to reduce our carbon emissions? With the easing of travel restrictions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Americans (many from my generation) are burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel for southern and European vacations. Others are flying to ports where they board floating hotels to burn fuel sailing through the Caribbean, or as summer approaches, into Canadian maritime destinations.
Meanwhile, after staying home in the early part of the pandemic, people are driving more again – and complaining because the price of gasoline has gone up because of inflation, the war in Ukraine and an increase in the federal carbon tax.
Often it must seem to political leaders that it’s an impossible, thankless task to try to make people care about climate change. Oh we certainly get upset when it hurts us directly like people in British Columbia who were hit both with devastating forest fires and floods last year, or people in California who seem to be hit with wildfires every year. But while these events make headlines, we shake our heads sorrowfully and talk about how sad it is, then jump in our cars or recreational vehicles and hit the road.
Oh, sometimes we make changes that hold the promise that the future can be different. The Ontario government did join the federal government to give our money to LG Energy Solution, a leading battery manufacturer and automaker Stellantis N.V. to build a plant in Windsor, but was that geared toward improving the environment by powering electric cars, or to help create 2,500 new jobs?
Look, I’ll be gone relatively soon so the future health of the planet doesn’t matter personally to me, but if you are younger, your future depends on preserving the planet’s health. What are you doing about it?