My response to 'The World Hit Record Temps in 2023..' in The Tyee

Here's my reaction --orig. meant as a Comment-- to this piece by Gordon McLean of The Conversation:  https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/01/16/World-Hit-Record-Temps-2023/

Another ill-timed waste of an oppor'ty to inform/update us on the biggest issue worrying 80%+ of Cdns (& growing) -- bereft of real-life specifics to help us "proactively advance climate resilience" -- whatever that means..

& that's half the problem: Science's refusal to DEFINE Cause/ Effect & Problem/ Solution has left this crisis open to interpretation -- by the very industries most responsible & with the heaviest footprints (whose lobbyists ensure THEIR profiteering 'needs' are met -- in regular mtgs with our spineless govt reps!) 

I.E. That atmospheric levels of C02 & methane "have continued to increase & hit record levels in 2023" means ZIP to most people without specifying exactly HOW they've increased & WHO/WHAT is responsible!!?

Eg. Logging old-growth forests releases all their stored carbon, adding to cumulative emissions (yet is exempt from req'd official GHG reports!?); LNG emits methane gas @ every stage, all up & down production -- yet BC's govt calls this fracked-gas fossil fuel "sustainable" & keeps approving new LNG builds here!!?

(Though this past month alone I've had to tell 2 peops -- 1 a regular MSM consumer -- WHAT 'LNG' EVEN iS!)

It's quite obvious govts & MSM COUNT ON -- if not further -- such widespread public ignorance.  That's just corrupt.. & DISHONEST!

Here's proof:  our govts are spending more $$ to convince Cdns they're tackling these issues -- via pricey TV ads -- than on actually tackling them, thereby making a mockery of indiv'l efforts while guaranteeing more fires, floods & other human-wrought ('Climate') disasters.

Worse, in defiance of urgent IPCC warnings to reduce GHGs & wean off fossil fuels, AB's govt alone has BANNED RENEWABLES -- & the feds persist in flogging (non-existent) 'Carbon Capture' tech as Canada's (non-)solution!!?

HOW can we be motivated to protect our --& our kids' -- thriving future hanging on a thin thread of carbon-sinking ecosystems exploited to extinction by irresponsible corps that refuse to change (along with their corrupted govt. 'secret supporters')? 

And do those of us who ARE still motivated (the numbers of which are growing daily) -- not by flimsy articles like yours but because we can't undo what we've seen 1sthand -- even stand a chance in the face of so much corruption??

NB. It must be noted:  the SOLE Cdn. political entity that refuses to be bought out wholesale by ecocidal Big-Industry corps, the ONLY honest ones who stay true to their clean mission, are the GREENS -- federal AND provincial.

Please:  let that sink in.

HERE'S THE SITCH, PEOPS:

 (My reply to another short-sighted article LINK 2 ARTICLE that slams Canada's indigenous policies while promoting our most destructive & polluting practices..)  WHERE DOES IT END?  Well, here's the Big Pic kids..

Canada's 'resource-based' economy = extracting/ logging/ mining (STEALING), by THE most destructive, non-renewable & unsustainable methods, the natural 'resources' that sustain us (that we need to live) to supply other 'starter' economies around the globe with THEIR means to become self-destructing extinction cultures like ours -- & sustain the wealthiest co's/ people so THEIR (polluting & prodigious) needs are met!??

To illuminate this sick (doomed) scenario, see what dictator Pres. Bolsonaro & co. are doing in Brazil right now: driving indigenous native people from their territories; grabbing land/stealing Amazon rainforest to re-purpose for beef cattle, mining etc.; & igniting the last pristine 'Lungs of the Earth' while lining their accounts with the profits.. 

Well guess what?  That's exactly the basis for Canada's economy -- only we're much further along than Brazil, catching up to economies older than ours which are now mostly barren desert, by continuing those same ecocidal industries apace - despite science's dire & repeated warnings.. 

One would think we'd learn from past mistakes, as those former 'star' empires struggle now with droughts & famine & water shortages, having raped THEIR 'natural resources' that enriched THEIR long-dead ruling elite centuries before..

Canada's been among the world's richest economies for barely 150 years & look at the predicted results!  Our lying, thieving leaders have betrayed us -- & we're dumb enough to keep accepting the 'status quo''s continuation instead of wisely choosing ethical green leaders who'll make the changes needed to restore our forests (if there's any old-growth left) & make a viable future for our kids.. & their kids..!!???

GOVTs: HAVE SOME INTEGRiTY: bReak deaLs with polluters NOT your promises to us! (FOR ONCE)

First, we need to respect science, which just IS -- in a singular category of objectivity, if not its 'last bastion' thereof. Science's standardized/ streamlined methodologies exemplify the most efficient/ fruitful/ TRUTHFUL use of human endeavour.. (In an era of artistic license & 'anything goes', of random acts & uncertain foes & non-fiction taken for fake news posing as prose, SCIENCE PLODS ON, indifferent to traits/ trends & stuck on measured singularities of PLACE/ TIME, in obeyance to its unwavering parameters & consistent procedures that make military regimes seem unhinged..)

Yet for all its unexciting exactitude & unfettered focus on tangible PHYSICAL REALITY, SCIENCE SUCCEEDS at joining humans in tireless quests for undiluted knowledge & observable overriding truths about our world.. & in doing so, scientists have unearthed the most heartstopping realities & real-life histories that defy the vividest mind of any mortal.. HOW can these epic odysseys of overwhelming magnitude possibly be dismissed with any integrity by self-appointed 'leaders' of whole populations, in favour of paltry fictions & polluting limitations?

& it's taken 1,000s of scientists worldwide working round the clock, using hard-won samples of carefully-measured layers of air & earth & fossils & rock, extracted from physical artifacts/ digs/ dirt/ swamps/ sea-beds/ mountainside/ cliffs representing different parts of the millions of years embedded therein, then deconstructed & dissected & analyzed & reconstructed & applied to the strictest standards & tested for specific results. The collective consequence amounts to a jaw-dropping Real Natural History of Earth spanning 100s of millions of years -- with ever-accumulating measurements of new finds filling in the blanks, each new discovery illuminating more of the whole, until massive reconstructed worlds are accurately visualized & give us insights into HOW BEST TO PROCEED GOING FORWARD..

[See NOVA TV's 'Polar Extremes']

We could be experiencing these groundbreaking discoveries together --shared globally by real [RESPECTED!] scientists sharing their finds as they break them open one by one, & unearth the keys to mould our better future in which all biodiversity will thrive -- along with our kids -- in a world that, above all, RESPECTS not just USES Nature's forces (which sustain LIFE ON EARTH.. duh?)  Having this process blocked & downgraded by desperate politicians/ businessmen/ charlatans who profit from polluting systems proven to be the very culprits of 100% HUMAN-CAUSED GLOBAL WARMING CONFIRMED BY MODERN SCIENCE --- is such an obvious perversion to those of us with half a brain who value life beyond constraints of oppression imposed by global leaders profiting from mass consumption of the inefficient, poisonous products they keep hawking, indifferent to the suffering SCIENCE IS SHOWING US ALL IN 3-D!

What's gross is the quacks/ factory farmers/ frackers/ loggers/ O&G peddlers ETC. have --against aLL decency/ reason-- been WINNING, & silencing those of us who are almost hoarse after decades of clamouring for justice & eco-balance & sustainability~!!?  HOW, is a marvel of $$-minded manoeuvrability of the blind leading the blind, with nothing but personal wealth & obsolete old-school polluting [illegal?] eco-destruction mowing down (/chopping/ digging/ extracting/ poisoning/ wiping out..) aLL in their killing paths, furthered by sucked-in politicians wilfully ignoring conflicts-of-interest/ corruption at the core of lobbyists' ongoing monopoly of their target politicians' ears, convincing them all's COOL just cuz some of their constituents hold JOBS in those very fields sucking the life out of Earth..

WOULDN'T THESE GOOD PEOPS WITH JOBS BE EVEN HAPPIER GETTING PAID TO IMPROVE & NOT WRECK THEIR KIDS' FUTURES?  ISN'T DEMAND FOR THEIR SOON-TO-BE-OBSOLETE PRODUCTS WANING, IN FAVOUR OF UPGRADED (ECO-SAFE/ ORGANIC/ SUSTAINABLE/ VEGAN eTc.) ALTERNATIVES, GROWING IN SUPPLY AS I TYPE??  If corporations aren't shifting gears to keep up with The Times, then our Govts. need to ENCOURAGE transitions with kicks-in-the-butt like incentives/ withdrawals of sizeable subsidies sTiLL stalling progress.. Surely THAT'd be less jarring/ painful than the inevitable result of refusing to adjust to changing needs:  abandonment by consumers/ orphaned assets/ possible court-cases brought by public & private citizens who WILL be awarded damages THOSE CORPS wiLL have to pay.. (It's just a matter of time - & time is one luxury we no longer have, so events are bound to speed up & leave the stragglers/ stubborn behind!)

[The alternative to such predictable science-proofed stories will be:  an even more degraded environmental legacy -- with extinction a worst-case-scenario rearing its frightening head..]

It's exhausting trying to arm aLL with Science & Truth & the Will To Change, & attending/ organizing rallies to mobilize the masses so our (supposedly Democratic) Govts LISTEN & mobilize WITH US (as they obviously did during wars) -- instead of proving by their underhanded complicity with big-industry polluters that they OUTRIGHT LIED TO US ABOUT THEIR INTENTIONS (public reactions to which, however, reveal that MANY MORE FAVOUR CLIMATE ACTION / GREEN NEW DEALS THAN WE WERE LED TO BELIEVE~!) THAT'S WHY WE WANT GREENS & NOT CONS/ LIBS/ NDP:  we see the corporate pandering behind the complacent Predominant Political Parties.. & it AIN'T pretty!  WE FEEL SHAFTED!!

We COULD BE transitioning EN MASSE to science-based alternatives, old-growth protection (cuz it's WHOLE FORESTS that sequester more C02 than any other known carbon sinks -- saving one or two 500-1,000-yr-old "big trees" & felling the rest just WON'T WORK as more C02 is released in that process!!!?), regenerative farming, renewable energy sources like geothermal & wave harnessing, ETC. -- ALL OF WHICH HAVE PROVEN SUCCESSFUL, WITH WILDLY PRODUCTIVE RESULTS~!  But sadly, most govt. leaders are --STILL!!??-- wielding way too much unwarranted power & held in thrall (apparently?) by industry/ O&G lobbyists who've managed to monopolize their pea-brains to the exclusion of anyone else in their decision-making... WHICH I CAN'T EVEN FATHOM AS LEGAL!!?? SHOULDN'T GOVT. BE LISTENING TO THE S.C.I.E.N.T.I.S.T.S. (& US T.A.X.P.A.Y.E.R.S.?) & SUING THE POLLUTING CORPS FOR DAMAGES WITH WHICH TO FUND OUR CLEANER, COOLER FUTURE??  LIKE A.S.A.P.???

AT LEAST WE OUGHT TO BE MOBILIZING TOGETHER TO URGE GOVT. TO QUIT USING OUR MONEY TO FUND BIG POLLUTERS -- eg. NEW fossil-fuel infrastructure like TMX & massive eco-ruinous projects like SiteC -- THAT ARE OBVIOUSLY CAUSING/ EXACERBATING OUR PROBLEMS -- & OUR KIDS' FUTURES!!?

(HELLLLOOOO?  HORGAN??  CONROY???  WILKINSON????  TRUDEAU?????  WE SEEEE YOU.. YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM US -- YOU ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS NOW -- SO STEP UP & DO OUR FUTURE A FAVOUR.. ELSE BOW OUT WITH GRACE & LET THE GREEN PARTY DO ITS THING!  YOUR POLITICAL CAREERS SHOULD BE SECONDARY TO THE DUTIES YOU'VE SWORN TO UPHOLD.. & THOSE WHO FUNDED YOUR CAMPAIGNS WILL JUST HAVE TO ROLL WITH THE LAW:  YOU'RE in charge now!!!?