Public Concern about Climate Change on the Rise BH lH Matters David Suzuki, David Suzuki Foundation When global warming is on the front cover of science journals, Time magazine, and Vanity Fair all at the same time, you know you’ve reached some sort of universal state of concern. That concern is palpable as I cross Canada on an extensive book tour. At every stop, I get questions. And right now, the majority of them are about our climate. What’s going on? Is climate change really as bad as they say it isP Haven’t we solved this problem? Isn’t Kyoto going to fix it? Are we even in Kyoto anymore? I wish I had the answers to all these questions, but I don’t, and that is only adding to people’s concerns. We do know that our climate is changing because of all the heat-trapping gases we keep pumping into the atmos- phere. We haven’t solved the problem. In fact, we’ve barely addressed it at all. Some countries have reduced their emis- sions, but Canada has been one of the worst offenders. Our climate change emissions are way above the Kyoto targets we are supposed to meet by 2012. Unfortunately, our new federal government seems to have adopted a somewhat defeatist attitude about the Right Hook continued: | a bit callus at first glance, but at the end of the day, Canadians will have to ask them- | selves what sort of foreign and military policy we actually want for this country. Do | we want a nation where our international actions are guided by how much we dislike seeing caskets on television, or by a gen- Left Overs continued: drink. Mass use of pot or any other drug which is, on an individual use basis, more dangerous will ultimately have a heavier cost on society. : I'd love to see a day where we get rid. of cigarettes, but it would take some time. I’ve been around one person quitting problem. Instead of coming up with bold and exciting ways to meet our targets, Ottawa is saying it can’t be done, so Canada will ignore our Kyoto commitment and work on other things instead, even though we’ve made an interna- tional commitment. One of those other initiatives is to consider joining an Asia Pacific Partnership on climate change. It has no tar- gets or timelines and is largely considered ineffectual in reducing emissions. While the Asia Pacific Partnership and Kyoto aren’t mutually exclusive, joining the former and ignoring the latter would be a strong indication that Prime Minister Harper isn’t serious about fighting climate change. Politically, that could be a huge mistake. Although the Conservatives never ran on an environmental platform—in fact, some might say the opposite—Canadians are very concerned about climate change, and understandably so. As a northern nation, Canada has much to lose from a rap- idly changing, warming, and more disrupted climate. The further north you go, the higher the temperature increases and the greater the impacts. That doesn’t mean more pleas- ant weather. It means hard costs as permafrost melts and roads disintegrate. It means more beetle infestations and fires in our forests. It means more droughts on the prairies. uine, long-term strategy to promote peace . and stability in the Middle East? Is safe- guarding the nation against a terror attack tomorrow less important than seeing the maple leaf flying half-mast at the post office today? — Death is part of life and causalities are part of the military. If Canadians cannot bear the thought of either, perhaps we shouldn’t bother with an army at all. smoking; not sure I'd want to be around millions. As for booze. ..well, I don’t want to give it up. Call me a hedonist. Unlike most, however, I know about a little thing called moderation, Alcohol is so . entrenched in our society that it would take some heavy-handed deeds to get rid of it. Instead, maybe we should turn our society into classy James Bond style drinkers, instead of slovenly Ozzy Osborne bingers. That would take at least ease some of the strain off our poor soci- ety, both monetarily and emotionally. So Canadians have a lot to lose, and they know it. In fact, a recent 30-nation survey found that 90 percent of Canadians say climate change is a serious problem, and nearly 60 percent say it’s very serious. That’s about average compared to the other nations surveyed, but well above the United States. Yet in spite of this concern and support, the federal government’s willingness to deal effectively with the issue is still lukewarm. Mr. Harper keeps talking about a “made- in-Canada” plan, as though previous plans were made else- where. And he has dismantled most of the previous gov- ernment’s initiatives—even the good ones. The result? Canada is adrift on this issue. We have much to lose, but no plan to change and, as a result, our emissions keep going up. Businesses aren’t seeing the sta- bility and certainty they need to invest in the future. We’ve stalled on an issue that Canadians are becoming increasing- ly passionate about. If the Conservatives fail to address Canadians’ con- cerns, they could be painted with the same brush that tarred the Liberals during the last election—arrogant, out of touch, and unaccountable. And that’s hardly the stuff that builds a majority government or a stable climate.