Sustainability educator speaks about realities of climate change
For sustainability educator and consultant Margret Asmuss the reality of climate change is far more than only an environmental issue.
She visited Swift Current on April 12 for a presentation about the climate reality in Saskatchewan and to share information about her current project for the Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES).
She spoke to the Prairie Post between presentations to the Kiwanis Club of Swift Current and a public event hosted by the First United Church.
There have already been various signs of the impact of climate change on Saskatchewan. There have been record high summer temperatures, some very dry years, more intense precipitation events, and the very large forest fire in northern Saskatchewan in 2015.
“We always talk about climate change as an environmental issue, but it's also an economic issue,” she said. “How long can we sustain the costs that are associated with our roads collapsing because the water table is too high or forest fires and having to move communities temporarily while we're putting out those fires or the agricultural losses associated with drought.”
The annual spending under the Government of Saskatchewan’s Provincial Disaster Assistance Program (PDAP) has increased significantly. From 2002 to 2010 the highest spending in a single year was $31.3 million in 2008. The spending in all the other years during this period was significantly lower and the lowest annual amount was just $276,000 in 2005.
The annual PDAP spending for the period 2011 to 2017 was significantly higher and varied from a low of $32.7 million in 2017 to a high of $157 million in 2012. There were also high spending years in 2013 at $72.5 million and in 2015 at over $110 million.
Then there is also the social side of climate change, which will have a global impact on countries in the future due to a growing number of climate change refugees. She noted that a major drought in Syria caused social upheaval that contributed towards the current civil war. Projections indicate that by 2017 the rising sea levels can put densely populated cities such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Shanghai, Bangkok and Miami at risk.
“Where do those people go and we already have this incredible tension about migrants and refugees,” she said. “This is one of the issues that I'm not sure are really on people's radar, that they're thinking about this displacement of people. So if we're already having these very vitriolic conversations about migrants and refugees, what is it going to become when those numbers increase?”
Asmuss is concerned that the public debate about climate change has become too politicized, which makes it difficult to come up with workable strategies.
“I am actually very, very disappointed in the politicians of all stripes, both in Saskatchewan and in Canada, because I think they're taking an issue and playing politics with it,” she said. “They're taking positions and they're attaching it to tag lines as a way of going into their next election and to win votes.… I'm very concerned about this, because I think this is an issue that could fundamentally change our way of life over time and it's not a political issue. It's an ethical issue, and what needs to be happening is that we need to be meeting in the middle and trying to find solutions.”
Her work as a consultant is focused on issues related to sustainability. She previously worked for 14 years as the sustainability coordinator at the University of Saskatchewan Office of Sustainability. She has participated in climate reality leadership training through Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project and she is currently serving as the SES board president. She is currently coordinating a SES project about initiatives by organizations, businesses and communities in Saskatchewan to carry out their activities in ways that produce less carbon emissions. She referred to three case studies during her presentations.
A kennels in Kronau operates completely on renewable energy, while the Nipawin Bible College has become the first college in Canada to power all campus facilities with solar power. A group of conventional farmers in the Minton area have made changes to their farming operations to reduce inputs such as nitrogen fertilizer, which can contribute towards greenhouse gas emissions through the release of nitrous oxide. In all three cases the main motivation was to improve their economic bottom line, but these changes also have environmental benefits in relation to climate change.
“The reason we're doing these case studies is not because we think these couple of businesses are going to save the world, but because we want to start a different dialogue,” Asmuss said. “Right now, especially here in Saskatchewan, the discussion is very polarized. … So these case studies are really just intended as a way of starting a more constructive conversation around this whole thing rather than just this is my position, and there is no meeting ground in the middle. Sometimes things have a ripple effect that you can't really predict. We can't really give up.”