A Big Step in the Right Direction: China and the US Agree to Do the Right Thing on Climate Change

Several years before I started hearing about climate change (and way before I morphed into a climate change activist), I made a childhood dream come true by travelling around the world. I took a leave of absence and my plan was to be gone for a year, but China's capitalist economic development had other plans for me.

My date of departure was carefully chosen. I left my home in British Columbia, Canada on the gorgeous September morning that I would normally have been heading back to school as a teacher.  The first stop on my trip was more random. The airline I booked with was about to start flying to Beijing. It seemed as good a first stop as any. I was on their inaugural flight. 

I hadn't thought it through very well. At my very first destination, I found myself completely illiterate and quite helpless. I quickly learned the character (or hanzi) for women's washroom, I can tell you. And I only found out later how blessed I was to spend my week there in sunshine. The Gobi desert didn't want me taking its sand home, and the streets were still filled with buses and bicycles, not cars.

Anyway, I had lots of adventures in China (and a few misadventures), but what I really want to share with you is what I witnessed there: the rapid rise of Chinese capitalism. And it was not a pretty sight. I met two doctors, married with one child, who were making the equivalent of $30 per month between them. They made me an absolutely delicious (and delightful) dinner, and when I suggested that they could open a restaurant, their food was so good, they admitted that they'd wanted to do that, but didn't know who to bribe in order to get the permits.

I wrote in my journal, "The Chinese are adopting all the very worst aspects of capitalism so fast that it's annoying." They just didn't seem to get that I was not going to buy their souvenirs on my way UP the Great Wall, no matter how much they accosted me. 

Not only that, but the Chinese economy was heating up so fast that with my Lonely Planet Guide for China only a year or two old, I spent three months' worth of my savings on only two weeks in China! That's how much the prices had soared. 

All that to say that it makes complete sense to me that China would want to make a commitment to fight fossil fuel greenhouse gas pollution. Over at ClimateProgress, Kiley Kroh explains:

"Late Tuesday night [11 November 2014], the U.S. and China announced an historic agreement to combat climate change, a major step forward from the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters. Not only does the agreement hold the two nations to taking additional steps to bring down the carbon emissions that drive climate change, but China just pledged to deploy a tremendous amount of clean energy."

Of course, it's not enough. Not by a long shot. Neither country is talking zero (carbon emissions) or 100% (renewable energy), but Obama is finally doing what he should have done in 2009 for the Copenhagen climate talks. And China ... well, much of China can barely breathe, so they couldn't hold out much longer either. 

Congrats to both President Obama and President Xi Jinping for taking this step in the right direction. Now, if they could just drag Australia's prime minister Tony Abbott and Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper along, kicking and screaming, we'd really get somewhere.

A Damn Good Idea - Let's Cancel Debt and Get to Work on Climate Change

The blog-o-sphere is still filled with rants by lazy or ignorant bloggers and commenters spewing their misunderstandings of the science (and economics) of climate change along with evidence of their complete unwillingness to triangulate the research and check some facts on their own. Instead they just steal sound bites from the primo denier blogs while accusing anyone who cares about the world of being in on the grand deception.

(Sheesh, how long will it take for deniers to get it through their thick skulls that the climate is changing? No, Ross, the warming didn't stop 17.85 years ago ... the warming has continued and the oceans have taken up the extra heat, which means that the heat hasn't been registering as an increase in global average temperature at the Earth's surface.)

So it is a great gift and a relief when something comes into my inbox that is a fabulously good idea! 

In Cancel developing countries' debt in exchange for climate change action, The Guardian asks "As the effects of climate change worsen and developing countries bear the brunt, could debt relief be a way to finance climate action?"

We had the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism, but its true success has been questioned because it relied on carbon offsets. We have the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Green Climate Fund, but aside from France (merci, vous autres!), nations are not racing to fill its coffers  to help developing nations with the costs of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and there are concerns about involving private sector financing.  

But what if we all just recognized the climate change emergency we're in, said "Holy shit!" and decided we'd all better get on with doing things differently? What if we all just decreed that all debt was forgiven -- bam! With one caveat: that any and all existing debt repayment funds would have to be redirected and applied to helping that nation, state or province, town / city / village, or household get to zero carbon emissions as rapidly as possible. 

Oh sure, I know, that's pie in the sky mixed with a complete ignorance (at least I admit mine) of how the economy makes any sense at all. (Hey, if economist Ross McKitrick can keep passing himself off as some sort of expert on climate change, then I have the right to talk economics.) But here's the thing. The economy is going to tank anyway if we don't head it toward zero carbon and fast.

Civilization, which is based on the steady food production that agriculture gives us, which is based on the stable climate we've had over the last 10,000 years or so, is going to crumble around us. 

At the September 23, 2014 UN Climate Summit in New York City, IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri said, "The longer we wait the higher the risk of severe, widespread and irreversible impacts: food and water shortages, increased poverty, forced migrations that could increase the risk of violent conflict, extreme droughts and floods, the collapse of ice sheets that flood our coastal cities - and a steady rise in our death toll, especially among the world's poorest."

Now I know that people such as Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, don't believe that any of these impacts will affect them (and apparently these people don't care if these impacts hit their children and grandchildren). If they do admit the existence of climate change to themselves, you just know they're adding, "But I'm not poor, so no problemo!"

But the really crazy part is that these people hide behind economics when they don't understand the economic realities of mitigating climate change. Pachauri also said, "We are told that limiting climate change will be too expensive. It will not. But wait until you get the bill for inaction. There are costs of taking action – but they are nothing compared to the cost of inaction."

If we have a giant jubilee debt forgiveness campaign and let everyone direct their money toward retrofitting the world for the transformation to zero carbon, no one will be able to say that safeguarding the future is too expensive.

Why Canada's Prime Minister Prorogued Parliament This Time*

This week, I received a copy of Franke James's Banned on the Hill: A True Story about Dirty Oil and Government Censorship. It's an adult "graphic novel" styled book about Franke's experience as a Canadian artist whose work was going to be shown in a 20-city European solo show with financial support from our federal government. 

The key word there is was, because that government support was withdrawn and the tour was cancelled. But what's worse is that the pressure to cancel this artistic initiative seemed to come directly from the PMO (the Prime Minister's Office) because the message of her art didn't, you know, jibe with the Conservative government's take on the tar sands (which, in a word, sucks). Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for the PM and his O, Franke is not a quitter. Besides being an artist and a writer, she's also an environmental activist who deeply understands the climate crisis.

Now here is Not-Very-Prime Minister Harper proroguing parliament for the third time. According to the Globe and Mail:

"While Mr. Harper's uses of prorogation when he governed with a minority were controversial, majority governments often employ the procedure to signal a new legislative agenda. New sittings begin with a Speech from the Throne."

Here is what Franke doesn't know. I have it on good authority* that Stephen Harper's reason for proroguing the Canadian parliament this time is to figure out what his government is going to do to fight the climate change emergency.

Yes, Stephen Harper (according to my source*) has finally got it through his thick, er, primeministerly skull that continuing to pump 90 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day is not such a good idea after all. 

from Franke's book (used with permission)

He's finally recalling that he did indeed learn about the carbon cycle in school, and has acknowledged that methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is seeping into the atmosphere from thawing permafrost and destabilizing methane hydrates in the Arctic. 

He's at long last recognized the food security nightmare we're staring down as the Arctic's summer sea ice (the air conditioning for our growing season) disappears more and more in extent and/or volume each year.

My source* says that soon after his Throne Speech in mid-October, the Canadian Prime Minister is going to call on world leaders in government, business, religion, civil society and science to declare the climate change emergency and start the race to the zero-carbon economy. 

Reticence (aka, ahem, a flat-out refusal) to make that declaration is the only thing keeping us from launching (under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and through a UN Security Council motion) an all-out emergency response to the climate crisis and its impacts on billions of people — not to mention most other forms of life. 

So there it is! Another month or two and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will become a world-renowned global hero on climate change. All those Fossil of the Year awards that Canada has been winning? He will personally be returning them to the 2013 climate talks in Warsaw in November. 

I've got to say, I'm looking forward to once again being able to hold my head up high as a Canadian.

* Sadly, my source is my imagination.

When Old People Ignore Young Heroes (or Worse)

Sorry to any readers in other parts of the world. This week's post is decidedly Canadian.

We need to get very clear about something. When a young person takes a risk to tell us oldsters something important, we need to listen — not criticize!

I was away at an educational convention this past weekend, and came home to news that Canada has a new hero! Brigette Marcelle DePape was a page in the Canadian Senate who simply couldn't listen anymore without "saying" something. Why is it that Brigette's generation has all this courage while we elders keep denying that there's anything awry?

So, Brigette does this brave thing (check out the video) and what's the response of the "elders"?

• She disrupted the reading of the Throne Speech. Ah, no. She stood and held up a sign. Nothing disruptive there! The fact that the Senators were disrupted says more about how distractible they are or how boring the Throne Speech was.

• It was a breach of security. That's such a funny one! We live in such a dangerous society (not!) that a piece of cardboard is now a security threat. (Mike Duffy, you're such a ....)

• She showed a lack of respect for democratic institutions. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Oh my, if this one's true, we can certainly point to the man who taught her everything she knows. No, wait, his name was on the cardboard! Yeah, you know, the prime minister who was found in contempt of parliament!

Besides something to do with hockey, it must have been a slow news week to turn this young woman's plea for sanity within our political system into a media circus. But do let's remember that our prime minister — not elected by a majority of Canadians — has sinister motivations that entail liquidating the future for Brigette's generation in the name of profits for his cronies today.

Come on, CBC et al. Harper has already made a farce of our parliament. Quit pretending he hasn't.

Meantime, Brigette Marcelle DePape just joined my list of climate change heroes.

By the way, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has this to say about Brigette's small act of civil disobedience:

"For a young person to do that and to do it peacefully, and quietly and with grace, I thought it was a very powerful moment. Every now and then there is an iconic moment where an individual takes action, and it inspires others to think .... I think that Canada and Canadians probably need to put aside the full respect thing and bring out their inner hockey stick and get to work on preventing their government from turning into a version of ours."

Where Does Climate Change Go During Election Campaigns?

Here in Canada, we're in the midst of a federal election campaign, brought about by a conservative minority government that doesn't give a damn about the electorate, and a prime minister who has become a tyrant.

Now, I'm a bit of a language nut, I'll admit, but "tyrant" comes from the Greek tyrannos meaning "lord, master, sovereign, absolute ruler" — whereas "prime minister" literally means "first servant." Does anyone else see the problem here? Indeed, Rousseau explained that "in the exact sense, a tyrant is an individual who arrogates to himself the royal authority without having a right to it." Yup, that about explains our PM.

Okay, on to the topic at hand. The other day, our community hosted an All Candidates Meeting, and all four candidates showed up. It was a rather sedate affair for the most part (the moderator had asked, in the interests of time, that we not get too fired up and start applauding all over the place). But the strangest part was the complete and utter lack of talk about climate change.

Our incumbent conservative candidate certainly said nothing about climate change (his boss wouldn't let him). From the liberal candidate who is a climate scientist, we heard nothing about climate change. From a left-wing First Nations candidate, we heard nothing about climate change. Even from our favourite Green Party candidate who has written a book on climate change, still we heard nothing about climate change. Did I mention that climate change just didn't come up?

So, I've realized, political candidates only bring up topics they think the voters want to hear about. And of course, even though we should care about the mother of all topics (after all, which other "topic" is threatening the survival of most life on the planet?), we've been convinced by the silence of our politicians that it's not a topic of importance.

Just because our candidates don't talk about it doesn't mean climate change has gone away, folks. Politics in my country has made itself irrelevant — but very dangerous.

IMPORTANT POSTSCRIPT

Just attended an early Earth Day rally with our Green MP, Elizabeth May (fantastic candidate, by the way!). I explained my concern to her and she assured me that climate change has come up in subsequent candidate debates. She also told me that in a recent TV interview, her whole segment on the climate crisis was edited out. So, I guess that along with a contemptuous prime minister, we also have censoring media here in this country I used to feel so proud of.

Leaders and Followers and Betrayal

I've been quiet lately. Too discouraged to know what to do, say or write.

But tonight, I need to rant. First, I'd like to mention that a Canadian political party that I have a lot of respect for is calling for Canada to show "climate leadership." Well, I think it would be quicker and safer for Canada to show climate "followership."

We should be following the nations that have already felt the impacts of the global climate change emergency — who KNOW that something drastic must be done.

Next, I want to apologize to the world on behalf of all the Canadians who, today, were mortified by our appointed senate politicians. They pulled a fast one on us, and our already not-strong-enough climate legislation is now dead. Just before Cancun.

A dear young activist friend of ours is devastated. Here's her response to our bully of a prime minister:

I would like to express my extreme discontent with the decision made in Senate to kill Bill C-311. Last summer, I rode my bicycle to Ottawa, from BC, to tell you that we need (at least) Bill C-311 — that we have a MORAL OBLIGATION to protect the future of today's children. Yes, that includes your children. I am devastated by this decision and its implications for further stalling of progress in the UN climate negotiations and the embarrassing position it puts Canada in on the international stage--an international stage that I would like to believe is slowly waking up to the climate emergency. Shame on Canada for not taking a leadership role in the fight against climate change; the greatest threat to human civilization. This evening, I go to bed with a heavy heart and a great feeling of uncertainty as to what my future holds in the face of a rapidly changing climate. This evening, I am embarrassed to be Canadian, and I feel a deep sense of compassion towards those people around the world who have done NOTHING to deserve the climate devastation that is being inflicted upon them, and that will continue to wreak havoc on their survival. This is so unjust; this is criminal.

Sincerely,

NN

How Does One Address a Dictator? (Petition Alert — See Below)

One day, I'm living in a free democracy. The next day, I wake up in a dictatorship. And damn, just when I was starting to feel a bit better.

So, is it Mr. Dictator? Honourable Dictator? Seriously, how does one address, with any due respect, a man who dissolves a democratically elected parliament at the drop of a hat — and for malevolent rather than benign or benevolent reasons?

Our so-called prime minister here in Canada (yes, the one that keeps winning us the Colossal Fossil award at climate change meetings) has decided to prorogue our parliament — again! (This is a "leader" who already appears to have broken three laws — through fraudulent election funding, contravening his own fixed-date election law, and ignoring Canada's Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act — so he's not big into ethics and doing the right thing.)

Prorogue comes from the Latin prorogare, pro- "in front of, publicly" + rogare "ask." I don't see how this man "asked" (it seems all he has to do is snap his fingers), and he certainly didn't do it publicly — he waited until we were all busy with the holiday season.

And while he says it's until the Winter Olympics (to be hosted by Canada in the Vancouver area) are over, and members of parliament in other parties say it's to avoid answering to concerns about Canada's involvement in torture in Afghanistan (by the way, most Canadians have forgotten why we're there), and commentators say it's so that he can restack our appointed senate with his cronies, I'm sure many of us know what it's really all about. And it proves something important.

This proves that Stephen Harper (just the name makes me shudder now) is not stupid or ignorant when it comes to the climate change emergency. It proves that his intentions are downright evil. All this is a ploy to gain a majority government by kowtowing to fossil fuel industries, Big Money, and all those who refuse to know the truth about the global climate change emergency — and to continue putting off any action on climate change. Indeed, prorogation will ruin any chances of Bill C-311 (our greenhouse gas reduction bill, which still isn't strong enough but beats what we're doing now) being passed, even though he says that the bills of private members of parliament will be "safe." In early December 2009, the House Standing Committee on the Environment finally sent Bill C-311 back to the House of Commons for a final vote — in the new year!

Harper is determined to make sure his "new Canada" thinks the economy is more important than life itself, so after appointing several new conservative (or Conservative?) people to the Senate, there's no way this bill is going to pass.

Harper is undoubtedly ecologically illiterate. In a December 2009 address to National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (South Korea), he proved that he thinks people can eat money. As host of the G-20 meeting in June 2010, he said he is going to urge member countries to put economic recovery before efforts to protect the environment.

“Without the wealth that comes from growth, the environmental threats, the developmental challenges and the peace and security issues facing the world will be exponentially more difficult to deal with,” Harper said. He doesn't seem to realize that if the world doesn't achieve zero carbon emissions as rapidly as possible, there will be no economy — no "wealth that comes from growth" — because there will be no human beings. No humans = no money. Economics does not exist except in our human world.

Back to the prorogue ... Harper's toadie, er, spokesperson, said that the government sought the suspension to consult with Canadians, stakeholders and businesses as it moves into the "next phase" of its economic action plan amid signs of economic recovery.

I always thought that Parliament was the way the Canadian government consulted with Canadians — through our elected officials. There's just so much I don't know, eh?

Well, folks, if the Canadian not-so-prime minister wants to consult with Canadians and stakeholders and businesses, I'm two out of three. Bring it on, dude! My place or yours? Any day but Wednesday would suit me just fine.

"Once more let me remind you what fascism is. It need not wear a brown shirt or a green shirt. It may even wear a dress shirt. Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege."

— Tommy Douglas, father of medicare and voted Canada's Greatest Canadian

*****

I've signed this petition to have Harper removed from office for negligence. Please consider signing it as well. And protests are being planned for Saturday afternoon, January 23, across Canada.

If you aren't living here in Canada, I'm sure the not-really-prime minister would love to hear your thoughts on this issue nonetheless, considering it concerns the fate of the planet!

Office of the Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON
Canada K1A 0A2
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca
Fax: 613-941-6900

These might be some of the most compassionate climate actions we ever take!

23 Days - It's Time to Listen

It's Time to Listen is a new youth-driven initiative that is asking Canadians (steal this idea in other countries!) to demand leadership from elected officials by flooding phone lines every Monday.

If you're in Canada, please follow up. If you live somewhere else, do the same thing in your country ... or hey! phone our Prime Minister of the Alberta Tar Sands. Here's their communiqué:

*****

This December in Copenhagen, world leaders will meet to negotiate an international climate treaty. I cannot tell you how essential it is, for the future of life on earth, that our leaders come up with a fair, ambitious and binding agreement. There are only 23 days until Copenhagen — we must act fast.

Every single day I worry about what the future has in store if we/our leaders fail in Copenhagen, and everyday I work hard to demand action from our Canadian government, but I can't do it alone; we need to do this together. We need to tell our government that leadership at the UN Climate Summit, investment in clean energy and action on green jobs are the most important issues to us. They need to know that we're not going away and our numbers are growing. I am asking you to join hundreds of people across the country every Monday in calling our MPs and asking them to please listen, to commit to environmental justice (more info below), and to protect our future.

Last week in Barcelona, African countries walked out of UN climate talks because some rich countries like Canada are refusing to commit to deep cuts to global warming pollution, and Canada won the "Fossil of the Week" award at the same talks for being the most unhelpful country. We need to work together to change all of this. It will only take 3 minutes of your time, a small commitment given the severity of the climate crisis. As youth who are going to have to deal with the impacts of climate change, we really need all the help we can get.

There is more info below but here are the basics...

If you have never done this before, here is a little video (that's our Pedal for the Planet friend, Nadia in the video) that demonstrates how easy it is! And here's a script you can use in case you aren't sure of what to say....

"Hi, my name is _________ and I would like to leave a message for _______________ to tell him (her?) that Canada must commit to environmental justice in Copenhagen. It is not fair that those who have contributed least to the problem of climate change are, and will be, suffering the most. To do this, we want him to target funding to protect impacted communities including the North, rural communities and Indigenous communities and to commit Canada to world class climate targets like those in Bill C-311. Thanks, have a good day."

Here is the number and MPs to call in Canada....

CALL 1 (866) 599-4999 & ASK FOR THEM - OR USE THEIR DIRECT LINES LISTED BELOW TO GET STRAIGHT TO THEIR STAFF.

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister - Harper.S@parl.gc.ca - (613) 992-4211
Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment - Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca - (613) 992-4275
James Bezan, Chair of the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee - Bezan.J@parl.gc.ca - (613) 992-2032

Tell the following opposition MPs the same thing...

Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Opposition - Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca - (613) 995-9364
David McGuinty, Environment Critic for the Official Opposition - McGuinty.D@parl.gc.ca - (613) 992-3269
Frank Scarpaleggia, Vice-Chair of the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee - Scarpaleggia.F@parl.gc.ca - (613) 995-8281

We are organizing it for every Monday (with a different theme) until Copenhagen but if that doesn't work for you, you can do it anytime, all the time. That said, when we do it all together, it demonstrates our unity and commitment and sends an even stronger message. So mark down Mondays on your calendar!

If you would like to do more than call, please sign up a location to host a "Climate Crew Monday." 
Email domesticactions@ourclimate.org to get a Climate Crew Starter Kit - and remember that only a few people is a great way to start. Here's a link to an online form to sign up a location for a Climate Crew - http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHJsSVpuajFYbUltX25wdkJJNTZ3QkE6MA

This is what youth across the country did last week.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U-Ecq0O0y8

Please, please, please pass this message along to your family and friends, we need to flood the phone lines.

Let me know if you have any questions or need more info.

Sad, angry, scared and full of HOPE,

Nadia


More information on the Campaign

This campaign is called "It's Time to Listen"--a youth-led six week campaign in the lead-up to Copenhagen with a different theme each week for each of the Power Shift Principles

Oct. 26 - Time for politicians to listen
Nov. 2 - Reduce emissions now
Nov. 9 - Commit to environmental justice
Nov. 16 - Invest in clean energy, not tar sands
Nov. 23 - Create effective green jobs
Nov. 30 - Lead Canada to be part of a progressive global deal in Copenhagen

We're going to use a mixture of flash dances, quick actions, special missions, emails, videos, letters, phone calls and good ol' face-to-face communication to:

1: Tell our government that climate leadership at the UN Climate Summit at Copenhagen, investment in clean energy and action on green jobs are the most important issues to us. They need to know that we're not going away and our numbers are growing.

2: Make climate leadership at the UN Climate Summit at Copenhagen, investment in clean energy and action on green jobs the #1 issue for Canadians.

Sign up a location for a Climate Crew/Be part of a Climate Crew near you

This week our focus is on committing to environmental justice. Our Climate Crews are doing a range of actions from a "freeze" while one person calls out environmental justice facts, to a group of people representing poor countries with tape over their mouths to show that they don't have enough voice in these decisions, to a rich country/poor country face-off that ends with either a poor country "die-in" if the rich countries refuse to act or a mutual "gratitude dance" if the rich countries commit to be climate leaders.

You are welcome to think of your own action to promote environmental justice (but please don't break the law, trespass or put anyone's health or property at risk).

We will turn photos and videos from this action in an awesome video and viral email to get more and more Canadians plugged in to the campaign and acting. We'll also use the video and viral email to build to next week. So please take pictures and video of your action so we have evidence of all the support for environmental justice. You can upload the photos to the facebook page and there will be instructions for video upload on the facebook event.

You can find a list of locations on the facebook event - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191944257603 - We want to get 50 locations accross the country doing weekly flash dances and quick actions by the end of this campaign.

If there is a location near you then you just need to show up at the right time, and bring a cell phone or signs with the theme of the week with you.

If there is not a location near you it is easy to sign one up, and easy to get a Climate Crew going.

Email domesticactions@ourclimate.org to get a Climate Crew Starter Kit - and remember that only a few people is a great way to start.

Here's a link to an online form to sign up a location for a Climate Crew - http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dHJsSVpuajFYbUltX25wdkJJNTZ3QkE6MA

Since we're geographically scattered we're using a coordinated and unifying tactic to raise awareness and project unity. If you're planning on doing something really different please get in contact with us (250-858-6057) to talk about how the action works within the broader campaign strategy.

FINALLY, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD BY SHARING THIS EMAIL AND JOINING THE FACEBOOK PAGE - http://www.facebook.com/ListenEcouter

What is Environmental Justice?


It might be easier to explain environmental "injustice." Think of Canada's Inuit. They have lived on the sea ice for generations hunting seals and other important food sources, but have only contributed to greenhouse gas pollution for just over 50 years. As climate change melts the sea ice the Inuit lose not only their ability to hunt and provide for their families, they lose an integral part of their culture and spirituality.

In Bangladesh, farmers sow and harvest simple crops like beans, rice and lentils. Many use oxen for this task, not being able to afford a tractor or other motorized equipment. These poor farmers contribute very little to the world's skyrocketing carbon dioxide levels, but are at risk of losing everything to climate change. Rising sea levels combined with more violent storms are starting to force salt water inland, destroying valuable crops. Farmers are now faced with an uncertain future where each year could bring starvation.

Climate change, in combination with other land-use factors, is turning once habitable land into desert; this process is known as "desertification." The United Nations has claimed that desertification is the "greatest environmental challenge of our times," and estimates that two billion people world wide could be victims of desertification in the future. Many of the victims of desertification live in Africa. As with so many other vulnerable populations whos lives have been devastated by climate change, these people produce almost no greenhouse gases and have done almost nothing to cause the problem of global warming.

The key point is that climate change has the biggest impact on poor people that did little to cause it, whether they live in Canada's north, Canada's rural and Indigenous communities, Bangladesh's flood plains, or the rapidly desertifying parts of Africa. This is injust, you could even call it a climate crime.

How does Canada play into this? Well, we have one of the largest per capita rates of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet, and we have been emitting greenhouse gases en masse for over 100 years. In short, we are a nation that has helped cause the world's climate change crisis. Not only have we helped create the problem, we have more money and resources to do something about climate change, and to deal with the negative effects, than most countries around the world.

We need to step up and do our part to reduce emissions, here in Canada and around the world. We also need to provide aid for developing countries and vulnerable populations that are being threatened by climate change. When Canada attends the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen this December, we need to push for an agreement that commits rich, industrialized countries to science-based emissions reduction targets, and that provides aid for developing countries to deal with the devastating effects of climate change.

That is what we mean by "environmental justice." Can you help us spread the word to Canadians and talk to our government?

Thank you!

Nadia Nowak
Student, UNBC Environmental Planning
E-mail: northernATcampusclimatenetwork.org


"If you can't fix it, please stop breaking it."
— Severn Cullis-Suzuki

176 Days - A Simple Action: Ask World Leaders to Actually Attend the Talks!

Here is a Greenpeace International petition that is definitely worth the ten seconds it will take to sign:

Astoundingly, few of the world's leaders have committed to even show up at the UN Climate Summit in December, where decisions about the future of our planet will be made. Can the fate of the world really be delegated? Ask them to take personal responsibility to see to it that the right deal is sealed.

ASK WORLD LEADERS TO PERSONALLY ATTEND THE CLIMATE CONFERENCE

• President Barack Obama, United States of America
• President Hu Jintao, People's Republic of China
• President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil
• President Nicolas Sarkozy, France
• Prime Minister Gordon Brown, United Kingdom
• Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany

[And let's throw Primer Minister Stephen Harper, Canada into that list - tiny population, HUGE carbon footprint, a LOT of bad carbon karma!]

Dear leaders,

I call upon you, not as representatives of your countries, but as leaders of the world, to personally attend the United Nations Climate Summit in Copenhagen this December.

Decisions which will be made at this meeting will impact the lives of everyone alive today, and determine the shape of humanity's future.

This is the world's best chance to avoid runaway climate change.

You owe it to the world to attend, to set aside your national interests, to safeguard our future, and to do what you were elected to do: lead.

My request is simple: promise now to personally attend.

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