Tell our leaders we can flourish without fossil fuels
During last month’s throne speech, young climate strikers from across Canada did not hear a single mention of fossil fuels.
Net zero promises and clean investment, sure — welcome to a 2016 throwback.
This is a sad reflection of the political dynamic around this issue. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says a modern economy “cannot function without massive consumption of oil and gas.” But did he really peruse multiple scientific papers and analyses to come to that conclusion?
Since my parents and politicians didn’t care to have answers, I decided to investigate myself.
No one talks about the carbon bubble nearly enough: the world can only burn one fifth of its existing reserves without exceeding safe warming levels of 1.5 C. That means, if we are to avoid the major impacts of climate change, $20 trillion in assets would be lost.
That’s already unavoidable, but if we delay action until the last minute, we would very likely trigger a huge economic crisis — one without oil and gas stimulus to save us.
I know what you’re thinking, Kenney: “Then let’s just keep combusting fossil fuels beyond safe limits!” But premier: from wildfires burning out West, to flooded homes, to threatened crop yields and a global refugee crisis, let’s not.
The burning question is can we flourish without fossil fuels? For a very rough answer, search “100% renewable” on Google Scholar and you will get close to 20,000 case studies (60 of them scrutinized here); it’s not a mere “fantasy” idea.
The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate puts a figure in: investment in clean growth and divestment from fossil fuels could lead to a net global gain of $26 trillion within a decade, as well as the creation of 65 million jobs.
Technically, it’s all possible. Electric cars exist. Solar panels are getting cheaper. Geothermal and other renewables are brimming with opportunities. Storage tech gets cheaper and more creative: hydrogen and algal fuel, pumped hydropower, compressed air and molten salt are a few examples. But we shy away from the capital costs of implementation.
Meanwhile, oil executives and populists toss the media around with their own interests and biases: critical policies and conversations don’t happen; investors and consumers get confused; and a bold, necessary transformation becomes difficult.
If we allow the green transition to keep being labelled as controversial by Kenney and Co., we lose out on this remaining window we have. Controversy in this crisis puts Canada in a needlessly precarious position — one that will prove quite costly.
On Sept. 25, climate justice organizations demonstrated across Canada demanding that a truly just and green transition be recognized by the Trudeau government. For more information on the protests across Canada, check out wearenotgoingback.ca.