Many of us concerned about climate issues try to advocate for positive change by government, but we are constantly blocked by a seemingly impenetrable barrier:
the “party caucus.” Yet, large corporate interests have no trouble getting through that wall and have huge influence in all government decisions.
Meanwhile, those of us involved in climate or medical research can only beat our heads against that barrier.
We have come to realize that the greatest difficulty we have in trying to help mitigate the climate crisis and various related health crises is not the difficulty of
significantly reducing carbon emissions—including air pollutants as well as GHGs— but it is our inability to move government leaders towards appropriate actions, despite the WHO declaring climate change as the global population’s greatest threat.
This difficulty is reinforced by party caucuses, which are supported and certainly influenced by large corporations—especially fossil fuels, mining, and forestry
industries, whose primary concerns are for increased profits. Canada’s Environmental Defence published a report in 2022 stating that “Toronto’s largest
financial institutions funnelled over C$1.43-trillion into fossil fuel companies, resulting in 1.44 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions.”
Few government MPs understand the severity of the rapidly evolving climate crisis, perhaps because it is not something we see happening on a day-to-day basis. As professionals in climate and medical science, we cannot successfully advocate for mitigation of climate change or its impacts until that wall is opened, which won’t happen without either major changes in our political system, or through widespread public outcry. Without these changes, carbon emissions continue to
increase, the climate continues to warm, climate disasters increase in frequency and intensity, and adverse health impacts increase, including growing death rates from cancer and lung problems from air pollutants. Meanwhile, nature moves us toward that uncertain climate tipping point where all human efforts become useless, somewhere around 2 oC of warming (we have already surpassed the infamous 1.5 oC level). Add to that the cost of rebuilding after destruction by hurricanes and wildfires, with huge increases in insurance costs.
Despite what fossil fuels and governments have been claiming, we do not have any technological fix that can work in the timeframe we have remaining. That’s the only certainty. We, therefore, need all politicians to understand the severity of what is happening, and to realize that the current status quo cannot continue. Our climate is very close to that tipping point where nature will restore climate equilibrium over a short timeframe, but at a much higher mean global temperature level of 3-5 oC. We appeal to the moral consciousness of individual MPs to demand change within their respective parties, to work closer with other parties, and agree to stop all subsidies to fossil fuels immediately. Note that the fossil fuel industry knowingly makes unethical decisions to continue putting profits ahead of any adverse effects to the public, and those profits provide massive lobbying power over politicians, pass Canada’s Aligned Finance Act, provide subsidies to municipal governments and small businesses to help construct renewable energy ‘mesogrids’, work with provincial governments to upgrade existing electricity grids, encourage provinces and electric utilities to welcome these mesogrids linking to their major grids, and provide re-training assistance to individuals transferring from fossil fuel to renewable energy jobs.
Not acting immediately is not an option for a world with 3-5 oC warming after 2050 would create untenable global situations with mass movements of hundreds of millions of climate refugees, especially from the subtropics which are becoming unlivable—including places like Florida—creating massive immigration problems in every mid-latitude country, followed by the rapid breakdown of most social services, including health, education, policing, governments, and more.
Meanwhile, individuals can voice support for efforts to develop clean renewable energy systems “at local scales,” ignoring fossil fuels for we cannot fight that
juggernaut. But renewable energy alone cannot save humanity without major changes in the way that governments operate.
Geoff Strong is an atmospheric/climate scientist based in Cowichan Bay, B.C. Richard
van der Jagt is an adjunct professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa. Both are
members of the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome.
The Hill Times