The planet has just 4,000 days to avert global disaster.
That’s the position of the U.N Panel on Climate Change who, in 2018 released a report that said that, unless the planet becomes carbon neutral by 2030, it will have passed the tipping point and that catastrophic and permanent damage will have been done to the planet.
It’s within that context that Transition Sooke is hosting a community meeting entitled “The Pact for a Green New Deal”, on Saturday, June 22 at the Sooke Community Hall (2-5 p.m.).
The meeting is part of a much larger initiative designed by the Council of Canadians which will see similar meetings take place right across the country.
A meeting in Victoria in late May saw more than 400 concerned residents appear to hear about the issue and what they can do to help solve the problem.
“Honestly, this is an issue that scares the Hell out of me, and it should scare every right thinking individual out there,” said Transition Sooke spokesperson, Bernie Klassen.
“We are staring down the barrel of a gun right now and we all need to do our part to turn things around, if not for us, then for our children and grandchildren.”
In Canada, the call for a Green New Deal was inspired by Québec’s Le Pacte pour une transition and the Green New Deal campaign Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is championing in the U.S..
The Council of Canadians has joined with progressive groups, organizations and people from coast-to-coast-to-coast in calling for a Green New Deal in Canada to meet the demands of justice and the climate crisis.
“This is a subject that I believe in quite passionately and this meeting is coming at a good time as our own newly formed Climate Action Committee will be meeting the day before,” said Mayor Maja Tait.
“And I know that we’ve been dismissed by people who say that municipalities can’t do much to affect climate change, but that’s just an excuse to do nothing.”
The truth, said Tait, is that municipal governments are the level of government closest to their constituents and can have a great effect on the attitudes and behaviours of their residents.”
“Change always has to start at the grassroots level,” said Tait.
Klassen echoed that sentiment and expressed his frustration with the persistence of climate change deniers–those people who continue to doubt science that has been supported by more than 99 percent of the world’s scientists who have studied the issue.
“It’s exhausting, really. We are so far beyond those silly arguments…the science is irrefutable,” said Klassen.
“For every letter that gets published doubting the truth of climate change, news outlets should publish at least 99 others in support of the truth. That would be representative of the scientific community and would truly reflect the proven facts.”
Klassen will be facilitating the June 22 meeting and said that he hopes that the people of Sooke come out to find out what they can do to help save the future for their children.
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