Rally brings attention to climate change
By Al Beeber on September 9, 2021.
Herald photo by Al Beeber -
Jim Carter, Kim Siever and Maria Fitzpatrick join a protest against climate change in front of city hall Wednesday at noon.LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Climate change was the focus of a rally in front of City Hall on Wednesday. Canadians across the country were staging similar events, organized by a group called 350 Canada, on the day of the federal leaders debate in French and the day before the English language debate.
Maria Fitzpatrick, former NDP MLA for Lethbridge East, was among the small group of people present at City Hall.
“What we want is people to recognize the danger our climate is in,” said Fitzpatrick.
The former politician said there are several ways city residents can reduce their impact on the climate. One of them, said Fitzpatrick, is to simply turn off the tap when brushing teeth. Another is to turn off lights when not in the home or in a room, a sentiment echoed by fellow protester Waneeta Fisher.
Fitzpatrick also does her part, she says, by walking wherever she can and only using her car when needed.
The activists want “to push our government to make energy-wise policies, said Fitzpatrick, noting that mining work is still being done in the Rocky Mountains.
That includes road construction which removes trees and brush, both needed for water retention, she said.
“Our drinking water can be affected directly in quality and quantity” by mining operations, she said, noting the dangers of selenium and other chemicals such as arsenic.
“Selenium becomes a poison when it accumulates,” said Fitzpatrick.
According to the 350.org website, “this will be the first election to take place while catastrophic climate-driven wildfires are blazing across the country as Canada faces one of the worst wildfire seasons on record and as communities recover from unprecedented heat, flooding and droughts. On top of that, we just heard from the IPCC that this is a code red moment when it comes to tackling the climate emergency.”
The IPCC is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of the United Nations that has as its mandate the task of providing objective scientific information relevant to climate change sparked by human activity.
350 Canada is calling for a moratorium on fossil fuel expansion which includes halting existing projects that are being constructed and it also wants a plan that moves Canada “past fossil fuels.”
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When I hear ‘climate change’ I cringe, because Canada has been under attack by the world to shut down our oil and gas industry while ignoring other countries, making me think this is nothing about the earth or protecting it and more about greed and markets!
Canada only emits 1.6 to 1.7 percent ( note that those are 1 ‘point’ 6 and 7) of the world GHG’s and even if we slashed all emissions, and shut down the oil and gas industry, because of the vastness of our country and transporting supplies to remote populations and due to our extreme winters, we could maybe only bring that down to 1 percent!
Now China, emits over 30%, with major coal burning across that nation and if you combine the US and EU, all three emit almost 60% of the world’s GHG’s.
So why is China, the US and the EU not under attack? Wouldn’t common sense suggest that if you really want to make a difference you would go after India and China, or other countries that emit more?
After saying all that, I do not support coal mining in the Crowsnest Pass, period! It would be a step backwards in our efforts to cut GHG emissions!