JONAH LETOVSKY
The Strand (University of Toronto)

Nobody likes melting glaciers.

TORONTO (CUP) — When it comes to addressing the catastrophic consequences of climate change, this nation is often described using words like “laggard” and “indifferent.”

For a country whose very identity is tied to the Rocky Mountains, abundant fresh water, large forests and diverse species of animals and plants, Canada has an abysmal record on setting and meeting greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.

We are no Denmark, Sweden or Norway. Nor are we Germany, or Iceland, or Japan, or Britain, or Australia or even the United States, for that matter. We are an international embarrassment.

So, who is to blame for this continued failure to step up to the plate at the national level?

To be frank: all Canadians are responsible. Students, seniors and especially baby boomers have shirked their collective responsibilities to each other and their children. Certainly there are many activists and environmental supporters, including university students, who make noise and call for concrete policy shifts. But in recent years, this noise — so critical for compelling politicians to act — has been overwhelmingly reactive.

Yes, Canadian students expressed outrage at Canada’s withdrawal from Kyoto. They were angry at the government’s clear lack of regard for the Doha COP18 talks, an international conference on climate change. Discussions arose, locally and globally, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, linking the massive devastation seen on the eastern seaboard to rising sea levels and temperatures. But in all cases our passion was purely reactionary and faded away after each crisis, allowing the media and federal government to shift the conversation back to less vital but sexier topics.

When was the last time you saw a Canadian newspaper with a front-page article about the enormous costs of future hurricanes, or the similar and immediate threat to other major cities such as Miami or Vancouver? Canadians seem content to allow these historic changes in ocean, climate and biodiversity to subsist as a “flavour-of-the-month” niche topic.

We must demand better. For Canadian prosperity to survive, a sustained discussion needs to take place, as has appeared to happen in the United States over gun control. The elementary school shooting in Connecticut occurred many weeks ago, yet the debate over gun ownership has continued to rage on front pages and social media. Federal legislative action, endorsed by President Obama, is sure to follow.

As students we can no longer simply react, criticizing Prime Minister Harper and his ministers when they enact tangibly harmful policy such as Bill C-45, which doesn’t fully honour the treaties, and eliminates protection for many bodies of water in Canada; as history proves, inaction can be just as crucial as action.

For concrete measures, which experts agree will most effectively reduce carbon emissions — including a carbon tax and investment in public transit — to finally take root nationally, we must hold our local politicians accountable at every turn.

It is vital for those in Toronto, where the urban summers will grow continually hotter and dirtier.

It is vital for Westerners in B.C. and Alberta, whose freshwater sources are drying up along with the vanishing glaciers.

It is vital for Maritimers, whose community viability is threatened by bigger, badder and more frequent extreme weather events.

It is vital for the elderly, whose health will suffer as Canada’s climate becomes less and less moderate.

It is vital for aboriginal peoples, whose heritage, culture, spirituality and, in many cases, livelihood depend utterly on the nation’s biodiversity — which is already in such widespread collapse that it has been termed the anthropogenic “sixth great extinction.”

And it is vital for the taxpayers of tomorrow, for whom the costs of adapting to an aggressive planet will skyrocket while suffering up to a 20 per cent loss in GDP.

Keep in mind: those future taxpayers are today’s students, who also happen to be facing a dismal unemployment crisis and rising health-care costs.

So, please remind me — why isn’t climate action the prevailing topic in every one of our political discussions? Why aren’t there visceral and angry weekly protests? With regards to posterity, Canadian civil society has essentially failed.

I don’t intend this to be a post-mortem. Our ways of life, health and economy are facing their single largest threat, yes. But we also know that we’re not yet doomed.

Climate change is no temporary or transient issue for youth. It is the existential threat of our generation, marching on every day whether we confront it or not.

In the end, of course, it comes down to the politicians. In our liberal democracy, a popular failure always results in political failure. In other words, we cannot expect Prime Minister Harper and the provincial and territorial leaders to take drastic, capital-intensive measures as we sit at home, silently fuming about the state of affairs.

Let’s turn carbon reduction into a popular success.

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Photo: NasaGoddardPhotoandVideo/flickr