Climate change action by Canadian governments and institutions

 How will we measure the sincerity of promises to act on climate change in the upcoming elections?  Charlie Smith writes that Seth Klein believes that many of the authors scrupulously avoid linking the fight to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to struggles for social justice and against inequality. Klein set out to do something radically different in his new book, A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency.

Drawing upon the country’s experience in the Second World War, he proposes to replicate the same can-do mindset to enlist masses of Canadians, as well as governments, to seriously confront the existential crisis generated by a warming planet. “This is a life-and-death struggle,” Klein tells the Straight by phone, “and it deserves to be told with some passion. I tried to bring some of that into it. I tried to write something that would touch the heart as well as the head.” During the Second World War, the government, led by Mackenzie King, threw out the rulebook. It created more than 28 Crown corporations to meet the needs of the war effort, which was led by munitions and supply minister C. D. Howe.1

In his book, Klein points out that the greatest income inequality in the 20th century occurred in 1938—just one year before the war began.

"when you think about our wartime experience, because Canada didn’t just offer training and relocation allowances to people then — we actively connected people to the jobs that the wartime mobilization…" - A Good War by Seth Klein.2

A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency.

The Climate Emergency Unit believe it is time for Canada to enter true #ClimateEmergency mode. They have produced a new video ( https://youtu.be/XUJw5cLyfEk )to show what that would look like.

 

This hopeful video explains how 4 key lessons for Canada's WW2 mobilization can be used to take action on climate change by Canadian governments and institutions. We all know that climate change is real and we need to dramatically reduce our greenhouse gases as soon as possible, but Canada's emissions have only stagnated since the world agreed to work together on this climate emergency. Using these lessons from WW2, we can envision what true climate action looks like.3

Action by the government and other institutions to seriously address the Climate Emergency would have the characteristics of the effort 80 years ago to win WWII.

 

References

 

1	(2020, September 9). Vancouver author Seth Klein wants us all to wage A Good War to .... Retrieved February 6, 2021, from https://www.straight.com/living/vancouver-author-seth-klein-wants-us-all-to-wage-a-good-war-to-prevent-a-climate-catastrophe
2	Klein, Seth. (2020) A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency. Toronto, ON:ECW Press.
3	(2021, June 23). 4 Hopeful Lessons from WW2 to Confront Climate Change - YouTube. Retrieved June 26, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUJw5cLyfEk