December 8, 2011Dear fellow Canadians,
The world has gathered in Durban, South Africa, to tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental issue, and the conference carries enormous stakes for our country, the world, and future generations. At a moment like this we need to be taking a constructive leadership role, but instead the Conservative government has done nothing more than further damage Canada’s reputation on the world stage.
Climate change is perhaps the defining issue of our generation and will profoundly affect our economy, health, lifestyles and social well-being. My work on the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has taught me that climate change requires moral and intergenerational responsibility, and how we respond will define the world in which our children and grandchildren live.
Canada knows climate change wake-up calls. For example, the 1998 ice storm, which cost $5.4 billion, and the 1996 Saguenay flood, which cost $1.7 billion. Worldwide, countries know the challenge–particularly the Maldives which lie only 1.5 metres above sea level.
We must listen to leaders of small island states who remind us that climate change threatens their very existence. Recently, the island nation of Kiribati became the first country to declare that climate change is rendering its territory uninhabitable and asked for help to evacuate its population. Climate change is not just an environmental issue, but rather a human rights issue–the right to live. Climate change is also an international security issue and a justice issue. That is, the ones who are suffering most have the least responsibility for it. In any struggle, we must listen to the frontlines because if the international community cannot save Kiribati and the Maldives, down the line it will not be able to save itself.
Canadians should be deeply concerned about the government's abdication of leadership on issues related to climate change, specifically its performance in meeting international climate commitments; setting science-based emissions targets; developing incentives for low-carbon technologies; reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and putting in place adaptation measures necessary to respond to the risks of climate change. Canadians should also be critical of the Conservatives who, upon coming to power, immediately killed Project Green, a comprehensive climate plan put in place by the previous Liberal government. Independent third-party stakeholders state that the plan would have allowed Canada to come close to meeting its Kyoto targets.
Tomorrow is the end of the Durban conference. There is an absolute urgency, first, as the Kyoto Protocol comes to an end in 2012, and second, as the world tries to hold the average climate warming to just 2°C, the threshold associated with dangerous climate change. Yet, this government has only now taken a dramatic position to try to save face. Unfortunately, they cannot hide from their record of having reduced greenhouse gas emissions targets by 90%, and hurting our international reputation by signalling withdrawal from our international climate obligations.
The Conservative government must realize our home, the planet Earth, is finite. When we compromise the air, water, soil and the variety of life, we steal from the endless future to serve the fleeting present. The time for government action is now. If we want to ensure a healthy planet for our children and grandchildren, we simply cannot afford to wait.
StarBuzz Weekly, Toronto-
