Last week, students staged a 鈥渃limate strike鈥� in Vancouver, with more planned for Sept. 27. Photo Dan Toulgoet
Care to guess what the so-called 鈥渂allot question鈥� will be for voters in the 2019 federal election? Surprisingly, it might not be the economy or healthcare 鈥� issues voters traditionally care about most.
Even the topic of immigration, fanned by the leader of the upstart Peoples Party of Canada Maxime Bernier, is barely registering.
You might surmise it was about racism after last week鈥檚 revelations about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. All of a sudden, the world was obsessed with his very unfortunate 鈥渂rownface鈥� episode.
Practically lost in the news cycle was听听sponsored by the Greater 麻豆传媒映画Board of Trade. The poll conducted by the Evi Mustel Group indicated almost half (49 per cent) of voters in Metro 麻豆传媒映画listed environmental concerns as their top issue.
In second place came the economy (27 per cent) and affordability (21 per cent).
What Mustel鈥檚 poll told us largely aligns with听听, and according to political insiders I have spoken to, what parties are hearing on many doorsteps across the country.
Climate change is very much on our collective mind.
Yet, with all that focus on public anxiety about the environment, it is hard to predict whether it will have a significant impact on the seat count in the House of Commons. You might think Liberal-held ridings are hanging in the balance because the government bought the Trans Mountain Pipeline, but polls show the party in a veritable horse race with Andrew Scheer鈥檚 Conservatives.
With their determination to axe the carbon tax, no one is pegging the Tories as the top choice of environmentalists either.
In the backdrop of Canada鈥檚 federal election campaign comes an emerging youth climate movement with a media-savvy spokesperson, 16-year old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
Students at home and abroad have been staging听听and occupying public places with dramatic 鈥渄ie-ins鈥� where young people lay lifeless on the ground. One took place last Friday in Downtown 麻豆传媒映画with more climate strikes planned for Sept. 27.
The day-long School Strike for Climate is even being听听by the B.C. Teachers Federation, who have circulated a set of听听to educators on how to support students in their climate protest.
While many young people are acting out on climate change, the majority of voters are reticent to follow their example. The answer for this may lie in a purported 鈥溾�� around climate policy.
The iron law 鈥� a term coined by听, an environmental studies professor and Forbes magazine columnist 鈥� dictates that while people are often willing to pay some price for achieving environmental objectives, that willingness has its limits.
In B.C., we see this phenomenon when the public blasts fuel taxes or pricey run-of-river energy projects, regardless of their environmental benefits.
Pielke 鈥� who believes climate change is happening as a result of human emissions of greenhouse gases, and that we must respond to the threat posed by it 鈥� has nevertheless been highly critical of climate science鈥檚 lack of progress on decarbonization and activists鈥� 鈥渁pocalyptic messaging.鈥�
By speaking out, he has earned the wrath of many environmentalists. Pielke even has his own听听prepared by the DeSmog blog.
In a recent column, he points out the 鈥溾�� between climate rhetoric and action. If decarbonization is the goal, Pielke writes, a听听clearly indicates we are nowhere near achieving the GHG reductions needed to keep the planet cool.
鈥淧wC tells us that we need to average a greater than 11 per cent rate of decarbonization for the remainder of this century to achieve deep decarbonization. No one knows how to do this.
鈥淲e are currently at a 1.6 per cent annual rate of decarbonization. If we are to ever get close to 11-per-cent-plus we will have to learn how to achieve two per cent, three per cent, four per cent, and so on. It is far more important to figure out how to start meeting the decarbonization challenge, than it is to know how it will end.鈥�
Let鈥檚 learn to walk before we run, in other words.
The 鈥渆xhortation to act in the absence of practical actions,鈥� argues Pielke, is impeding progress on fighting climate change.
Canadians looking for real solutions to the climate crisis, should therefore be forgiven if their ballot choice is 鈥渘one of the above.鈥�
