Rethinking Lifestyle

How our planet and economies respond to the big issues of our time is determined by the individual actions of millions, indeed often, billions of individuals. This being the case, the argument could be made that no individual action is significant, and because of that there is no need for anyone to take responsible living and responsible actions seriously.

In 2018, I sought to speak with my M.P. Ted Falk about the alarming report from the International Panel on Climate Change regarding a global temperature rise greater than 1.5°C. Mr. Falk wasn’t available to meet in person, so I spoke to one of his aides instead.

Having just had my first child, the report struck me particularly close to home. It said that to keep global temperature rise within 1.5°C, net carbon emissions would need to be reduced by 45% by 2030, and reduced to zero by 2050. Failure to meet this incredible challenge would be catastrophic to Earth’s systems (including our economy). A reminder: the IPCC is not an environmental organization; its reports are approved by 195 member nations including Canada, the U.S., Iran, China, Japan, and Iraq. And while our country was trying to establish a too-low carbon tax, my political representative was busy opposing even that tax.

A the meeting, I shared my alarm at the situation. I appealed to the values which I believe Mr. Falk and I share, including faith, family and community. I said that I was frankly terrified at the prospect of invoking unimaginable uncertainty on my child’s future by failing to act. The aide heard my concerns and thanked me courteously. Some time later I received an email response from Mr Falk, stating that he didn’t support a carbon tax because “even if Canada proceeded to dramatically reduce its emissions through a carbon tax, global emissions would be virtually unchanged.”

Consider the meaning of that statement from my MP! Following Mr. Falk’s logic, why would anybody participate in a federal election that will undeniably hardly be affected by their one vote? Why would anybody recycle, or work for a charity, or defend their country at war only to leave the world “virtually unchanged” in spite of their sacrifice? Needless to say, I was disappointed at Mr. Falk’s position. He seemed to be saying that, by waiting for others to act first, our economy could outlive this existential threat to Canada and the entire world.

But there is one more detail to this story.

When I met with Ted Falk’s aide in 2018, the IPCC report had just been released and was getting a lot of media attention. I asked whether his office had received many calls from concerned citizens on this subject, and the answer was no – the majority of calls his office got were regarding other subjects. In fact, this aide had never received a request like mine. This may not be surprising considering the political demographic of the Provencher Riding. But in the 2019 election, over 15,000 people voted for the Liberals, Greens or NDP. Surely some of those people share my concerns?

If you are someone concerned about climate change and you haven’t spoken to your political representative about that threat, ask yourself why you have not. Is it because you’re sure that your concerns will fall on deaf ears? If you believe that your efforts would leave the world “virtually unchanged” anyway , then you should talk to Ted Falk. He may convince you, as he did me, of just how cowardly such an argument is.