*Editor's note: the following is a letter in response to David Suzuki calling federal environment minister a hypocrite who should quit.
Respectfully, I don’t agree with Dr. David Suzuki that Minister McKenna should resign.
However, I recognize that Dr. David Suzuki is expressing the frustration of many people. Humanity is in a race against time.
On Sept. 18, the UN chief said: World has less than two years to avoid “runaway climate change.”
Sadly, Canada’s climate targets are woefully inadequate. If all governments adopted our inadequate position, global warming would likely exceed 3C.
And in March 2018, in the historic report, Perspectives on Climate Change Action in Canada—A Collaborative Report from Auditors General, all of Canada’s auditor generals concluded that Canada, as a whole, is not on track to meet our greenhouse gas emission targets.
It must be borne in mind that there was a paucity of climate action at the federal level between 2008 and 2015 and the provinces did most of the heavy lifting according to Julie Gelfand, Canada’s Environment Commissioner in her 2014 report. Gelfand also said in October 2017 regarding Canada’s current climate plans that it will take time to bend the curve.
When I began my journey as a climate advocate in April 2008, trained directly by Al Gore and Dr. Suzuki, my conclusion was: the politicians need our help.
The fact is not enough Canadians know that this is a global emergency nor what to do.
Is it Minister McKenna’s fault alone that Canada is not doing enough? I think not.
Firstly, she started behind an eight ball with the woefully inadequate climate targets of the previous government. And secondly, Canada’s democracy has been captured by some in the fossil industry. I encourage people to read Dr. Kevin Taft’s book: Oil’s Deep State.
I take the position that politicians don’t create political will, they respond to it.
Is it a medical doctor’s fault if people refuse to immunize their children? Or is it a product of the society we live in, where everyone believes themselves to be a potential expert on anything and then go on the internet and confirm their biases without using appropriate critical thinking skills.
Social media has made people vulnerable to Russian bots, fake news, conspiracy theory, and undercover manipulation of some in the fossil fuel industry.
The solution to the climate crisis is democracy.
We have been here before. When Hitler threatened the world in the late 1930s, we united, but it took time and there were obstructionists and truly unfortunate incidents.
Citizens and thought-leaders need to empower our government to ring the alarm bells to the true global emergency we face.
The best news is – a recent report from The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, which is an alliance of many exceptional leaders, determined that acting on the climate crisis will deliver a $26-trillion boost to the world’s economy, by 2030.
Cathy Orlando
International Outreach Manager
Citizens’ Climate Lobby