In all the debate over whether to help with foreign aid, there is a missing point: that the developed world, including Canada, helped to create the drought-stricken, flood-washed, weather-pummelled global South that exists today. We unwittingly fuelled greenhouse-gas emissions with our lifestyles.
But there is also no examination of how well-meaning Canadians were duped for the last 40 years by certain oil companies (not all) into creating a climate of doubt about the science of global warming. Billions of dollars were spent in the U.S. and a lot in Canada to convince us either that the situation was not that bad (climate denial) or that there was still plenty of time. Lobbying is legitimate; outright lies and distortion of our climate reality are not.
Most of us are unaware of how well-funded these efforts were and how much they permeated our own thinking and created a sense of helplessness. Many of us were blindsided when we realized how bad things were.
We have a right to be angry as long as we act responsibly and quickly. How dare they blind us to the reality of our Earth? How dare we not respond now with all the love and compassion we can muster? Let’s roll up our sleeves and force those emissions down.
Johanna Aucoin-Slaunwhite, Halifax
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