In response to Wilderness Committee's STELLAR recent publication, Nature Can't Afford the Banker (Building A Nature-First Economy) written by campaigner Eric Reder, I used their special letter-writing tool here:
WildernessCommittee-BankOnNature to write the letter (below) sent to these recipients:
Here's my letter ~
As a born-and-bred BCer I am deeply dismayed by recent policy developments brought by PM Carney & the federal govt, characterized by glaring omissions of biodiversity loss (Species at Risk), climate & eco-based considerations. Like a slap in the face, the message stings: that future-forward nature care & stewardship are not important to Canada's federal govt - contrary to what we were led to believe.
With Earth's web of life literally staggering on the precipice of human-caused demise, these developments are blatantly myopic in the extreme. As a major culprit, Canada cannot afford to ignore this global crisis any longer!
A gutting example here in Ridge of this backward slide on Climate sticks out like an open wound, just up the road: a devastating clearcut of a vast swathe of forest along Dewdney Trunk Rd that's left this community reeling over the loss of that endemic ecosystem's assets, & dreading the resultant impacts of looming 'fire season' heat events. Compounded by this year's record-low snowpack levels.
Such worrying scenarios, escalating across the nation, signal the untimeliness of your retreat on biodiversity & ecosystem protections - falsely in the name of economic growth & affordability. As the [conservative] World Economic Forum's recently-published Annual Global Risks Report clearly states, the next decade's biggest economic threats are biodiversity loss & climate change! This backs what Science has stressed for years: there is no economic argument for excluding nature in any govt decisions going forward.
While countless Canadians struggle to get by, PM Carney's nescient focus on costly "nation-building" projects that double down on last-century fossil-fuel reliance offers scant relief for most Canadians while highlighting a gaping disconnect between our climate-affected reality & the federal govt's "new" priorities - at the cost of rolling back hard-won eco-protections & Indigenous commitments! This dangerous regression is nothing less than abrogation of duty by our public servants!
The costs of climate change are already driving up our bills, through climate-disaster clean-ups like the Hwy 3 washouts costing million$ from public taxes. Yet your govt continues to pour money & energy into fossil-fuel-run projects that only promise to make the problems worse.
Firm fact: we've already found proven ways to protect Canada's natural habitats, that reduce emissions & make life actually affordable in this cost-of-living crisis! And they don't include building O&G-run 'data centers' requiring massive amounts of water (amid BC's ongoing drought emergency!!???)- besides being arms of USA's resource-grabbing hegemony of billionaire-owned Tech giants, with potential consequences that undermine our very democracy! Canadians of all walks of life are unanimously rejecting A.I. data centres, with good reason: forcing their egregious climate-wrecking effects across the country is a flagrant misuse of taxpayer's money - with NO tangible benefits!
Please, respect the values Canadians hold dear, including (overwhelmingly) climate action & nature protection - eg. by building/ upgrading homes with sustainable materials & renewable power; & funding our necessary transition to clean green industries +++ - i.e. much-needed measures that support society sustainably AND economically, while aligning with our emissions-reduction commitments.
Therefore I implore your govt to:
- Immediately remove the Impact Assessment exemption from the Build Canada Act;
- Grow both nature & climate budget expenditures to at least two per cent of GDP annually;
- Enforce the Species at Risk Act in all jurisdictions across Canada;
- Establish tests that rate cumulative & downstream emissions for every Major Project;
- Plan to meet our international emissions-reduction commitments;
- Strengthen Impacts Assessments & waste regulations for ALL mining projects in Canada.
Without thriving Nature's priceless benefits, "Canada Strong" will remain unattainable due to our over-reliance on (chemicalized/ outdated) Agricultural exports, Fossil-fuels, over-harvested forests, rejection of Science-advised solutions, & USA's unneeded obsolete imports - i.e. products of ramped-up pollution, contamination, ecocide, GMOs, overdevelopment ETC. Canada CAN be strong - by countering those failed excesses with quality, locally-made, sustainable production values & future-forward TRANSITION into the clean, green future we CAN achieve. Because we've already proven so!
THAT is where our taxpayers' money should be invested, guaranteeing quality jobs/ re-training in renewables / organic regenerative agriculture / clean public transport / eco-tourism +++ sectors for a healthy economy that LASTS.
For too long, our policies have prioritized short-term GDP growth at the expense of ecological stability & social well-being. Surely we've LEARNED BY NOW that merely perpetuating same-old last-century unlimited-growth economics will subvert our own success!!??
Leaving legacies of thriving Nature & circular economies represents REAL Science-led prosperity - as opposed to cowering in the face of oppressive billionaire-owned U.S. 'Big-Tech' grifts engendering nothing but more inequality & unaffordability. We have a global duty to protect what we have left in our priceless biodiversity, forests, grasslands & waters - THOSE are sources of lasting, regenerating value that will build Canada's resilience.. now & in future.
It's time to UPGRADE: respect Nature's directives instead of recklessly destroying what remains - eg. Canada's last 4% intact Lungs of the Earth - for financial gain of a wealthy/ foreign few. That's like demolishing the Great Pyramids for the price of their stones: NIHILISM THAT MAKES NO SENSE - economically or otherwise - at any time! Today's govts are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring liveability of our world for future generations, & Canada's leadership must be no exception.
The interconnected crises of climate change, resource depletion & economic inequality demand that we transition toward a sustainable, healthy economic model. Our metrics for national success must evolve to prioritize resource conservation, community resilience, and long-term liveability over infinite expansion.
As my elected representatives, I urge you to support policies that move beyond traditional growth metrics & invest in a regenerative economy. The alternative is unthinkable.
Please live up to your democratically-elected duties, as leaders serving Canadians' best interests!
Thank you very much.
[SaRah (Saz) ChesTeRman]
Before & after shots of that Maple Ridge clearcut: [Pix by me]
BEFORE:
AFTER:
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