Climate Change: The Big Picture

It will surprise no one that climate change has dire consequences. The statistics on this issue are often scary enough to make a person feel like they are in a science fiction movie. Indeed, the consequences that we as an Earth community are already feeling and those that are to come are enough to overwhelm even the staunchest social activist. In response to this, there is a tendency to focus on the little things we can do as individuals, such as biking to work, reducing our home energy use or using different light bulbs. These are important changes that everyone can and should make, but sometimes when we focus too much on the little things we lose sight of the bigger picture. And it’s a very big picture.

This Wednesday, September 29, CPJ’s Executive Director Joe Gunn, my fellow intern Callie Cochrane and I attended a panel discussion on climate change as a moral issue. The event featured speakers from the Pembina Institute, World Vision Canada, and the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, as well as a climate change witness from Peru and MPs Paul Dewar and John McKay. The issue was approached from a lot of different directions, but the message was clear: climate change is a reality and it is disproportionately affecting the world’s poor. For those who are already disadvantaged by poverty and war climate change is making day-to-day living even more difficult. Furthermore, this phenomenon is a direct consequence of the actions of the world’s developed nations. As one speaker pointed out, quoting from a UNDP report, “People living in the Ganges Delta and New York, especially lower Manhattan share the flood risks associated with rising sea levels. They do not share the same vulnerabilities.” And it is not just danger to physical landscapes: increasing temperatures have been matched with higher incidence of diseases such as malaria, an impact which is particularly felt by children in the Global South. Climate change is indeed a moral issue.

Sherri Arnott from World Vision Canada posed the following question: how many children are we willing to let die because of factors we can prevent? This question is absolutely vital and it is one which we should all ask ourselves. As so often happens, however, in answering this question we are led to yet another one: what are we going to do about it? And what do we mean by ‘we’? The little things, the small manageable steps, are very important but at some point we have to look beyond ourselves to the wider community and ask ourselves “what is Canada going to do about it?” As a member of the world’s wealthy our nation undoubtedly has a responsibility to do its part. Yet Canada’s environmental record is dubious at best. Why have Canada’s politicians consistently failed to produce and follow through with an appropriate response to climate change? Simple: Canadians have yet to make it inescapably clear that we expect better.

As people of faith, as people who value our environment and respect life, as Canadian citizens, we are called to make sure our politicians know that we expect them to uphold Canada’s responsibilities on the world stage and at home. As individuals we can make small changes in our lives in response to climate change, but as Canadian citizens, as a Canadian community we also have a responsibility to make sure our government follows through with big changes that could lead to a big solution in response to the big problem of climate change. And that’s the big picture.