Apathy, Climate Change and the Canadian Public

There is an insanity afoot in our world. A terrifying insanity born of apathy.

In the face of hard science about the catastrophic effects of climate change, we continue to keep our collective heads buried in the sand, focusing instead on shortsighted solutions that rely on our addiction to fossil fuels.

In a recent speech at the World Bank, Mark Carney - former head of the Bank of Canada, and now the Bank of England – said, "Burning all the carbon that humans have discovered and banked for extraction might well end our civilization." 

Strong words from a banker, which, not surprisingly, did not make the front page of any mainstream media.

The recent report from the International Panel on Climate Change tells us that we are ill-prepared for risks from climate change which is about more than just a few bad storms.  It’s about the major social upheaval that will inevitably come when large populations are displaced because they no longer have access to clean air, water and unpolluted land.

We can blame the Harper Government, which admittedly has an abysmal track record re: the environment. We can blame big business that is putting profit before people. But ultimately we must take a hard look in the mirror. The Canadian public has become frighteningly apathetic, taking for granted rights people in the rest of the world are willing to die for. In so doing, we are complicit in the devolution of our democracy, and the desecration of our planet.