The dangers to the physical and mental health of our children and grandchildren due to the warming of the planet invite consideration of the moral issues involved in supporting further activity by industries with high GHG emissions.
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| Sea Level rise |
Susan Ormiston & Mia Sheldon of CBC News note that there is a saying among climate scientists that "what happens in the North doesn't stay in the North," meaning big changes in this region will affect the rest of Canada as well. Mean temperatures in the Western Arctic have increased a staggering 3.4 degrees Celsius since the 1960s.
To put that in perspective, the goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change that Canada signed is to ensure global temperatures rise no more than an average of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Scientists predict that worldwide warming greater than that could trigger potentially disastrous changes to weather patterns and ocean levels.1
Investigators at the YEARS Project reveal that Exxon knew about the dangers of climate change in the 1970s, according to internal company documents.
This date agrees with the research done by Bill McKibben and published in his book “Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?”
Rylan Higgins offers the opinion that petroleum industry jobs are only a good living if you prepare for the bust, which always comes.
In short, it's pretty brutal, pretty unforgiving. Chews you up, spits you out.
And I'm talking about people who have devoted their entire lives to it.
It's not a surprise. The power at the top is global, immense and hell-bent on squeezing every penny out of the labour that goes into producing oil and gas. The industry has long been one based on inequality, bootstrap individualism and high-octane opportunism...And let's not forget just how opportunistic and contradictory the powerful people in the industry are. When times are good, they argue that government needs to get out of the way, that progress should not be impeded by labour or environmental regulations.
Consider, however, the fact that oil and gas are extracted on land secured from indigenous people with the help of the government.
And what about the government subsidies from which the industry benefits? When the boom ends, industry enthusiasts are quick to fault the government for not prioritizing the sector's recovery.
There are a lot of good reasons to transition away from this industry.
It will be critical to consider the workers and families in the industry as we do so. The next economic arrangement should put workers, families and the environment first — and investors and corporate bigwigs last.
In short, we'd be better off without oil and gas, and I'd bet there are plenty of workers and families who'd love an economy based on more stable, just and environmentally friendly industries....3
Sean Craig writes on a report in the Lancet that wildfires, disease, food scarcity are what scientists predict in a grim century for Canada. The Lancet Countdown global report focuses, in particular, on burdens infants and children will face in the coming decades.
Researchers determined that, as they age into adolescence, the impact of air pollution will worsen for current infants and children if current trends continue. As they enter adulthood, extreme-weather events will intensify and become more common. For example, 152 out of 196 countries saw an increase in people exposed to wildfires in the past 15 years. They said Canada is not doing enough to mitigate these potential harms.
"Canada is not on track: in 2016, total Canadian GHG emissions were 704 (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent), an increase of more than 100 metric tons since 1990," the report reads. "Policies and measures currently under development but not yet implemented are forecast to reduce national emissions to 592 metric tons by 2030, 79 metric tons above Canada’s 2030 target... a goal which is itself too weak to represent a fair contribution by Canada to the emissions reductions necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement."4
The planet is warming. That warming is caused by GHG emissions. Our climate scientists and health care professionals understand that there are significant consequences for our life.
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| Profits over the Planet |
The efforts of big oil have focused mostly on profits over the planet and the health of people.
References
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