CHARBONNEAU – We are ambivalent about fighting climate change
(Image: Pixabay.com)
EVEN AS THE CLIMATE emergency grows, Canadians are becoming ambivalent.
The threat is clear. Oceans are hotter than any time in the last 2,000 years. Conditions are ripe for extreme heat waves, droughts, floods and storms.
The Arctic is warming nearly four times quicker than any other place on Earth. By 2100, polar bears could face starvation and reproductive failure. In a feedback cycle, less ice means more absorbed heat and more intense heat waves worldwide.
Ironically, Arctic warming means colder winters. As the polar jet stream is destabilized by warmer air, it can dip south bringing bitter cold with it. The resulting polar vortex brings Arctic air to mid-latitudes, as far as Texas in February 2021.
We slip into the mistaken belief that individual action will work. In an Ipsos poll conducted in September, 2023, six out of 10 say that if individuals do not act now to combat climate change, we will fail future generations.
But individuals are paralysed by the lack of a plan. Governments have saved the environment in the past.
What did individuals to remove toxic lead from gasoline? Nothing. Governments forced removal in 1996 after health problems from lead became obvious.
What did individuals to remove CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances? Nothing. A global agreement, the Montreal Protocol of 1987, phased out the production and the ozone layer is now restoring.
And the same poll reveals that we don’t like governments telling us what to do. Only seven per cent agree that: “Only government-enforced action will make me change my behaviour.”
Unlike previous rescue plans, our government talks big about reducing greenhouse gases but does little.
According to a recent UN report, Canada is among a group of top fossil fuel-producers that will dump twice the amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the amount required to reach targets set to limit global warming.
Canada, the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, is set to increase production by 25 per cent above 2022 levels by 2035.
The UN findings are at odds with government commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement. And the opposition Conservatives might be even worse.
If he forms government, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre won’t say if he will commit Canada to achieving its promised emissions targets under the Paris Agreement.
Ambivalence is also reflected in the Ipsos poll. While Canadians have little confidence in this government, they want Canada to do more. Six out 10 agree that Canada should do more in the fight against climate change. The will to fight climate change varies across the country. Agreement is high in British Columbia (62 per cent) and low in Alberta (26 per cent).
When the BC Liberals implemented a carbon tax in 2008, it was internationally acclaimed as a way of reducing greenhouse gases.
Now BC United leader Kevin Falcon says he would scrap the provincial fuel tax and scale back the carbon tax.
Canadians like to think of themselves as saving the planet but when it comes to action, we’re all talk. And Big Oil is only too happy to accommodate the Canadian appetite for gas-guzzling trucks, all the while promoting fanciful dreams of reducing emissions though carbon capture.
David Charbonneau is a retired TRU electronics instructor who hosts a blog at http://www.eyeviewkamloops.wordpress.com.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
To whom much is given, much is expect is apropos in the given situation. If the richest amongst us won’t sacrifice then why would we ever expect the poorest amongst use to? We must lead for the future to change as we’ve already “exploited and polluted” for our own gain, we now can’t ask the emerging nations not to follow in our footsteps if we aren’t willing to sacrifice.
We continue to sell dirty high polluting coal and bitumen to these emerging nations for our financial benefits and mother natures harm, the least we and other wealthy nations can do is invest in, develop and use clean technologies to show the world what can be done.
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P.s. I walked into Winners today and was immediately bombarded with plentiful shelves of Christmas crap. Decorations for the length of the store. Where do you think this comes from? China. And we buy it. Don’t talk about China causing pollution unless you don’t buy anything from there, ha. If we buy stuff from China, we’re contributing to the pollution of production.
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How many tons of coal are shipped by rail, through Kamloops, day after day after day to be burned in Asia?
Let the hypocrisy at least slow to a crawl before there is more shedding of crocodile tears on this subject. Canadians can be taxed to the hilt (carbon tax) but for what we use, I agree with Ken. Until the gluttons come to the table and change their ways, there is only so much can be done for the world’s use of carbon based fuels.
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Canadians are generally very frugal people…they know talk is cheap but to really put an effort forth takes effort.
We in Canada are not concerned with practicing energy conservation but we should. I truly detest the feeble, fallacious argument of (inexcusable) inaction because of our collectively relatively small global impact.
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Climate change is not a made-in-Canda problem, so why is it up to Canada to sacrifice our way of life in a futile effort to fight climate change for the whole world? Is climate change even human caused? If it is, nothing will happen on the fight on climate change until China, Russia, India, etc, are on board.
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So we do nothing? This isn’t a game of chicken, do you understand the concept of mutually assured destruction?
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If the choice is to hobble our economy while emerging economies exploit and pollute for their own gain, for consumers to be taxed further in an already high tax environment when clearly the concern at the highest levels are votes rather than climate change, I’ll take the strong economy and reduced taxes, thanks.
If it wasn’t apparent, housing is not a real economy. Canada is a resource-based economy. What will be the predictable outcome of cutting that economy when other nations won’t? They’ll enjoy a strong economy while their pollution blows over yonder.
Or is the solution $65K electric vehicles? That’s all well and good until the taxes applied to gas to maintain roads and infrastructure are applied to electricity consumption for electric vehicles.
Progress trap much?
People want to save the world and ban plastic straws when our hospitals are closing, most don’t have a doctor, and crime is out of control.
At the Tesla charge station in Kamloops, I’m Denny Law.
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Or, you could think about the many goods we buy from China and India. There are probably many in your house. These countries produce the goods for our agents and our demand for their cheap goods creates pollution. So we are part of the problem for wanting and buying these goods that we will probably throw away after a couple of years anyway. Just stop buying cheap stuff that you don’t need.
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