Listen to the Young

I was talking to my son the other day and he lamented that his generation and younger (he’s in his early forties) did not think they were being listened to.  He said that this certainly applied to climate change.  He said that for these younger generations, climate change is THE number one concern.  And I fully support him on this.

Instead of being considered a serious threat to all of us, it is being considered purely a political issue.  It is considered a “wedge issue” whatever that means. Parties argue over whether it is real and what should be done about it.  It becomes nothing more than an election issue to be argued over in political debates.  And even when a newly elected government (federal, provincial, municipal) takes power and acknowledges the problem, they do precious little about it.  Instead they use millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money, money that could be used to take real action, to fight court battles against some other government.  They are not listening to the real problem, but only to pressure groups and lobby groups who don’t want their “lifestyle” spoiled.  The fact that these groups usually represent the rich and well established does nothing for the rest of the population. They are the ones who don’t want to have to give up their luxury SUVs or other toys that usually require the use of petroleum products.  I have yet to see any industry that makes luxury yachts, recreation vehicles or other such devices every invest in fuel efficient technologies.

In Ontario, our esteemed Premier Doug Ford, who seems to be more obsessed with beer than climate change, is now proposing to raise the speed limit on major highways to 120 Km/h.  This will no doubt will make him very popular with folks who don’t look at consequences such as the increased fuel that is used by a vehicle travelling at that speed. The optimum speed for maximum fuel economy is about 80 – 90 Km/h.  Consumption goes up very quickly above that speed.  This fact is in addition to the reduction in safety that these speeds will bring.  Highway 401 from Toronto to the Quebec border is already a killing ground.

The arguments against taking any action are manifold.

“It will destroy the economy.”  This is a favourite among conservative “thinkers” and politicians.  But let’s be honest, it may reduce some sectors that rely on excessive use of petroleum products, but other industries will grow in their place.  After all, the destruction of the buggy whip industry did not destroy any economy.  Any company worth its salt and investor respect will adapt as most industries have had to adapt if they have been in business for any length of time.

“Canada is such a small contributor.”  True, but as they say every little bit helps.  If Canada can show leadership many other small and medium countries are liable to follow.  Take, for example, Costa Rica where they just went 300 days of using only renewable energy to provide electricity to the entire country.  Obviously, they didn’t think their contribution was too small to take such action.

“It’s too late to do anything.”  It is never too late to at least minimize the carbon pollution that is the primary source of climate change.  We may never eliminate it all together, but we can mitigate it as we seek answers to improve the situation.

“What will happen to me?”  Your life will change.  But with the right leadership, your life can go on and perhaps be better.  If it is a job you’re worried about, you may have to be adaptable.  Besides, technological changes, such as so-called AI, are probably going to have a bigger impact than trying to tackle climate change.

So as our governments argue over carbon pricing, new pipelines and how to get more money out our pristine tar pits (oops oil sands), let’s demand that they start taking climate change seriously and do something about it.  If not, the younger generations will rise up and throw them all out of office.