Below is my response to a MUST-READ guest post on Norm Farrell's blog, insights.ca, by long-time BC environmentalist Bill Henderson - @ this link:
This Abominable Scam of a Climate Election
{illustration by me}
Such a powerful piece as this instils not just fresh hope & [non-GMO/ smart] food for thought, but the re-charged resolve to get its contents INTO the mainstream of 'must-reads' on this top-rated topic -- not least for the preponderance of denial drivel [STILL!!?] spouted & re-hashed by politicians, popular pundits & people-in-passing alike..
We need scientists to replace industry lobbyists working closely with our govts ASAP -- to unite BCers with the updated facts of Climate change & stay on top of REAL science-advised solutions of merit that'll help us tackle this giant climate crisis b4 us - together!? The time for proactive measures is NOW..
The days of Govts [public servants!] getting away with corrupt misuse of their positions of leadership must end: we cannot afford more of the same BS!
It's plain as day the Old Guard needs replacing -- i.e. the same-old wealthy banks, polluters, BigPharma monoliths, logging/mining co's that, up until today, have had their way [&Govt approval] to keep digging/ grinding/ logging/ mining/ polluting/ wasting Mother Nature to extinction.. Modern science shows their rapacious & unsustainable extractive industries NEED TO BE CURTAILED -- YESTERDAY -- to have a hope in hell of saving life on Earth & leaving living legacies for our kids..?
And yet it seems the purveyors of pollution are -- still!!? -- WINNING over those with the actual working solutions for clean GHG-free sustainability in all sectors. Why? Because banks, govts etc. -- having acknowledged & announced the Climate crisis in our midst -- refuse to match their actions with words & actually WORK ON making the transition, starting with divesting from polluters & investing in the CLEAN GREEN RENEWABLE innovators with the future-forward jobs of tomorrow..
The increasing # & size of rampant wildfires across Canada are the most obvious -- & frightening -- sign that the old rapacious, unforgiving pace of clearcut logging (having wiped out 95% of our protective primary forests -- ie. Our most prodigious C02 sinks/ endangered species' habitats/ Salmon refuges/ OXYGEN PROVIDERS+++) CANNOT CONTINUE APACE!!?
Once these precious & globally unique rainforest habitats are clearcut (emitting most of their stored C02), the barren ravaged wastelands left behind DESERTIFY & turn into TINDER that fuels fires+++!!?? Anyone who thinks planting replacement seedlings of 1 tree type --along with spraying all deciduous 'pest' trees [which act as key barriers to fires] w/ deadly carcinogens like Monsanto's [now Bayer's] glyphosate-- EVER restores those critically beneficial 1,000-yr-old fire-resistant 'Lungs of the North', is sorely out of touch with reality!
But let's face it - mainstream media (MSM) has been keeping Cdns misinformed, persistently keeping the lies dished by the BigIndustry lobbyists alive.. & supporting Govts push to let the [mostly foreign-owned] extractive corporations gauging out the last of our precious natural resources -- while steadily stripping down Mama Nature's last best defences (i.e. what makes 'Super, Natural BC' thrive) Those who blame the 'big polluter' highest-emissions giants such as China for 'holding back the rest of us' should know: Canada's Govt subsidizes (!) the very industries keeping Climate crises escalating globally, & positioned to keep the world's MOST polluting countries dependant on our tar-sands' dirty bitumen for years to come!!??
Those of us who've invested everything to transition out of fossil-fueled pollution into clean green livelihoods -- eg. organic regenerative non-GMO farming & growing bamboo/hemp to save our last living OldGrowth forests -- CANNOT accept such colossal ineptitude from Govt: WE'RE ALREADY LIVING THE GREEN FUTURE -- proof of its efficiency -- but we could use influxes of public $$ to keep expanding as required! What's holding us back -- & darkening our rosy outlook -- is the constant evidence around us of cont'd Govt FAILURES, past & present..
Unfortch, all 'Big 3' main parties -- Cons, Libs & NDP -- are pushing same-old status-quo of cont'd extraction, fossil fuel growth, logging our last living breathing IRREPLACEABLE forest ecosystems, ETC. ETC.. Yup they've decided our kids don't deserve a future.. & we're supposed to be reassured by such dishonesty!!??
NO: we can't be OK with such blatant insults from our public servants, who appare don't mind if our entire land base (& all the freshwater lakes & lush green wilderness therein) is sucked dry & shipped to Asia, with what's left used for grazing beef cattle for fast-food exports: HELL NO (As a vegan, I'm appalled..)
The ONLY viable alternative to such disastrous outcomes is to VOTE FOR YOUR VALUES NOT CONTINUED DEGRADATION/ ECOCIDAL TERROR -- & that means backing the only ones with ethics, integrity & smarts -- THE ONLY PARTY CAPABLE OF BRINGING A BRIGHT RENEWABLE FUTURE: THE GREEN PARTY (duh?) Anything else is a re-hash of past errors/injustices, which we're MUCH better off without..
We deserve better than these tired, useless throwbacks to polluter-culture don't we? So let's KICK EM TO THE KERB SEPT 20th & VOTE GREEN.. CUZ WE CAN!!!!