On climate change, action is needed

On Monday, Environment Minister Peter Kent explained to reporters “that climate change is a very real and present danger and we need to address it.”

With the next round of United Nations climate negotiations coming up next week in Qatar, there is no time like the present for the minister and government to back up forceful comments with real commitments.

A report from the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy in June laid bare that Canada is not currently on track to meet its 2020 emissions targets, targets that themselves fall short of the kind of drastic action needed. On top of this, most of the progress that has been seen can be attributed to provincial action, not policies at the federal level.

Already the planet has experienced 0.8 degrees of warming, and subsequently we’ve experienced extreme drought, flooding, heat waves and, most recently, the devastation of hurricane Sandy, which put climate change back into the public consciousness. This is what a one-degree planet looks like, so imagine two degrees or even worse.

While it’s nice to hear Canada talking aggressively about climate change again, actions speak louder than words. It’s hard to hear truth in the minister’s words over the din of pipelines, tankers and tarsands expansion.

Nadia Kanji

Mount Royal