Climate change focus of Monday meeting

Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef will be meeting with local activists Monday to address their concerns about climate change.

Monsef will be speaking to members of Peterborough Alliance for Climate Action (PACA) in response to the letter they delivered Oct. 26. About 60 people rallied outside Monsef’s Bethune St. Constituency Office that day, before handing over a message outlining their demands of the federal government.

The group highlighted the need to eliminate fossil fuel subsides, to put a greater price on carbon, for greater funding for a transition to renewable and for a program to educate the public on the growing threat of climate change. PACA is using information from a recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report to back their demands.

The report indicates that global warming continues to increase at a rate that will lead to disastrous consequences. Furthermore, if the overall global temperature is not limited to a certain degree by 2030, changes to the climate will be uncontrollable, according to PACA. The group is asking Monsef and the government to commit to the recommendations stated in the intergovernmental report, such as a 45 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and zero carbon emissions by 2050.

About 60 citizens are expected to attend the meeting with Monsef on Monday at 11 a.m.