Trudeau must reject the Teck Resources proposal
If we wish to hold temperature rise and contain the damages these will cause to we humans and the earth, we must act in the following ways:
• The potential carbon emissions from the oil, gas, and coal in the world’s currently operating fields and mines would take us beyond 2 C of warming.
• The reserves in currently operating oil and gas fields alone, even with no coal, would take the world beyond 1.5 C.
• With the necessary decline in production over the coming decades to meet climate goals, clean energy can be scaled up at a corresponding pace, expanding the total number of energy jobs.
• No new fossil fuel extraction or transportation infrastructure should be built, and governments should grant no new permits for them.
• Some fields and mines — primarily in rich countries — should be closed before fully exploiting their resources, and financial support should be provided for non-carbon development in poorer countries.
• This does not mean stopping using all fossil fuels overnight. Governments and companies should conduct a managed decline of the fossil fuel industry and ensure a just transition for the workers and communities that depend on it.
• In addition we need to provide financial support and technology for low or non-carbon development in poorer countries.
There have been several recent serious warnings that we are not acting fast enough or strongly enough to reduce emissions: one by the International Panel on Climate Change, and another by the Alliance of World Scientists website go to https://scientistswarning.forestry.oregonstate.edu. These groups represent thousands of the earth’s scientists.
Building another giant tar sands mine would be going in exactly the wrong direction. It would destroy thousands of hectares of forests, wetlands, and water bodies, and would add to the excessive and ever-growing emissions of greenhouse gases, and steady increase of atmospheric temperatures. Furthermore, it would add to the extreme weather impacts of hurricanes and typhoons; increasing intensity of extreme precipitation and floodings; extreme temperatures, droughts, and wildfires; melting of ice sheets, glaciers and permafrost; increasing rates of extinction of species; mass migration of people suffering from heat, lack of water and food; and public health impacts which presently account for thousands of deaths annually.
It is way past time that our Canadian and provincial governments takes our climate change seriously, and begin to act to address it with actions that are well known, cutting the release of CO2, methane, NOx and refridgerator gases, and switching to renewable energies such as solar, wind, battery storage, which we know emit less GHGs and are already known to reduce the GHGs and are known to be cheaper than fossils.
Thanks for all you can do to save a livable earth for us, and our children and grandchildren.
John K. Jeglum
Duncan