In partnership with Climate Change Newmarket-Aurora, NewmarketToday brings you a regular series of columns aimed at creating awareness and engaging our community to take action on climate change.
Where do we find hope in these challenging times?
I was listening to the CBC News on the radio this week. The news items included an update on the progression of the wildfire that has destroyed a third of the town of Jasper and is still out of control. Alarming news of severe weather events is often linked to climate change. A deeper dive if you have the courage to recognize truths can be found in Wildfires Grief and Paralysis by Andrew Nikiforuk in The Tyee.
Will the Grenadine Islanders, now made homeless by Hurricane Beryl, find hope that their islands can be made whole again now that the world has moved on to the next catastrophe?
The burned-out residents of Jasper, Alta. will gather their strength and rebuild with hope, just as the residents of Fort McMurray did eight years ago.
While the situation of the endangered South Resident killer whales in B.C. presents a dire challenge, with threats like oil tankers endangering their habitat, there is still a glimmer of hope in the growing acceptance of climate science among Canadians. Our recent Town Hall event in Newmarket, where the message Climate Change – Can I Really Make a Difference resonated strongly, reflects a broader commitment to action and influence on climate issues. Can we do it in time to save islanders, forest communities and our biodiversity?
Hope without action is just wishful thinking. The time is right to step out of our comfort zone, gather our hopes for a liveable, joyful future, and take action so that we can look our children in the eyes and say, “Yes, you are worth it.” This beautiful Earth is worth every bit of our love, strength, and courage. It will not be easy. There are powerful interests and big money with a stake in the status quo, and the ear of government.
Our numbers are growing with every new climate disaster, and the realization that it is not enough to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost, and go all-electric. Punching back at climate change will take more than those individual actions alone, laudable as they are.
You do not have to be an expert to understand this. Climate scientists have been sounding the alarm for decades, stating that continued burning of fossil fuels is likely to lead to dangerous levels of global warming.
We can be spectators. We can keep driving everywhere in our gas cars, we can take endless cruises and flights without factoring in the emissions, we can continue to chop down boreal forests to make toilet paper, and we can keep pumping oil out of the ground and burning it until more and more of the Earth is uninhabitable for us. We can hope for a brighter future where solar, wind, and geothermal power sources take over from fossil fuels.
Or we can put our hopes into action, think of future generations and act so that they will not curse our names. Those who care must be prepared to make those changes and grow our numbers big enough and loud enough until we are a force to be reckoned with. We will be heard when we insist that the government at all levels must walk the talk and stop pandering to fossil fuel producers.
Could it be that the real hope for change lies within each one of us and how much we are able and choose to do? Find ways to put your Hope into action listed on the Take Action tab of our website.
Inspired by the international organization Project Drawdown, Climate Action Newmarket-Aurora seeks to engage citizens, institutions, and policymakers in actionable and measurable solutions to stop catastrophic climate change as quickly, safely and equitably as possible. You can contact them at [email protected], and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
