Well done, students, for climate change action
Re: “Younger generation wants to blame the older folks”, (Citizen, May 22)
I disagree with Bryan Wallis’s contention that today’s youth have no right to speak out against the perils of climate change; they have every right.
Science may have given us many benefits — including an unprecedented ability to alter nature — but not the wisdom to use that power wisely, and our failure to do so now threatens civilization itself.
The latest IPCC report, representing a consensus of thousands of the planet’s pre-eminent scientists, warns that we must reduce GHG emissions by 50 per cent within a decade if we wish to survive, yet our leaders — Trudeau, Notley and Horgan — have consistently betrayed their promise of real change.
Instead, they shill new pipelines and fossil fuel industries (LNG), while promoting the myth that the best way to reduce the amount of GHGs entering the atmosphere is to add more.
When older people tell students to mind their own business, students might reply that a habitable planet is their business.
And when political, media and corporate interests claim that change is impractical and that a better world isn’t possible, students should point out that is only true if we lack the imagination and the courage to act differently.
Well done students.
I hope that the sense of solidarity, equality and morality you have experienced has left you feeling determined and empowered to speak up, again and again.
Mike Ward
Duncan