Fool me Once, Shame on You – Fool me Twice, Shame on Me

Fool me Once, Shame on You – Fool me Twice, Shame on Me

The Fallacy of Continuing to Hope that Business as Usual can Save Us from Ourselves

Two days ago I was listening to a discussion from Brazilian Indigenous protestors who were using the fact that COP30 was happening there to highlight the proposed development of oil fields in the Amazon basin. What I heard was the same old platitudes we have in Canada: they were told that any oil development would have the monies earned to be used to improve both social programs and invest in renewable energy and other climate change actions. Of course it turns out that Brazil had record oil exports last year and used none of it to invest in the newly promised investments in combating the climate emergency. Does this sound familiar? Fortunately, those Brazilian protestors were not foolish enough fall for that promise. But For how long have Canadians been told a version of the same thing but had GHG emissions continue to increase and believed it? It seems to me that anybody who would believe that oil/gas development could possibly support the climate fight is quite simply an example of

Fool me Once, Shame on You – Fool me Twice, Shame on Me.

Yesterday I again heard an example of this same behaviour from the leader of Green Party Elizabeth May who was the deciding vote in supporting the Liberal Budget. Her logic was that most CDNs did not want an election [so what! She was elected to represent the values that would allow for a sustainable way of living, not to play games like that] and also after Carney committed to meeting Paris climate targets during question period. Ha! That’s quite amusing. Our record in Canada is that we are the country who has the largest divergence between promised action and results. For example, the site Climate Action Tracker says this about Canada [1]:

Canada’s climate action appears to be stalling, even as the country faces intensifying impacts—most recently enduring its second worst wildfire season on record in 2025, second only to 2023. Although national emissions are on a downward trend, this progress remains fragile and at risk due to policy delays, rollbacks, and a lack of decisive new measures. While the federal government has made progress on implementing policies from the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, including the national zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) sales mandate and the Clean Electricity Regulations, other critical measures such as strengthened regulations to curb methane emissions in the oil and fossil gas sector and the introduction of an emissions cap for the same sector are still pending. 

So do I think that the promise to Elizabeth May is worth even 2 cents? No. In fact, on September 15 the new Liberal government had in fact already killed the ZEV mandate [2]:

“As part of Prime Minister, Mark Carney’s recently announced measures to “protect, build, and transform Canadian strategic industries” in response to the impacts of US tariffs, the federal government will not require automakers to meet the 2026 Electric Vehicles Availability Standard (EVAS).”

And yet she, and many others I should add, continue to Hope beyond Hope. They hope that those who support Business as Usual [BAU] will make the necessary changes to create a survivable environment for our kids future. The above examples are not to critique those involved specifically, but to point out that MOST of us act the same way and suffer from

Fool me Once, Shame on You – Fool me Twice, Shame on Me

Why do you & I fall for promises that that we know in our heart of hearts will be broken? Perhaps its because admitting that BAU is impossible to maintain is just too hard. Perhaps its because we are terrified as to what will happen when BAU ends. Perhaps its just because even the thought of losing our lifestyle that Kings of the past would envy. Perhaps there are a thousand good reasons. Whatever the case, we are fools if we allow ourselves to be fooled again, and again, and again, and….

So, what are you and I to do? Stop being fooled by anybody who tries to tell you that BAU and life as we know can continue as is. Is this the End? NO! It’s just the beginning of a better way to live – if, and only if, we can stop kidding ourselves, roll up armsleeves, and get to work making heaven instead of the hell we are now working so hard to create. Is it likely that we can make the necessary changes to avert disaster? No. But we can help make the disaster not quite as bad and more importantly be in a state of mind to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. All things end, but we are priveleged to live at this special moment where we can make this ending a new beginning.

References

1. https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/canada/

2. https://electricalindustry.ca/latest-articles/pause-ev-sales-mandate/