The election issues the candidates didn’t talk about
Dear Editor:
“I’ve seen albatrosses come back with their belly full of food for their yearlings and nothing in it… What does she give her chick? You think it’s going to be squid, but it’s plastic. The chick is going to starve and die. Plastic manufacturers happily say when you used it, throw it away. Plastic is so permanent, so indestructible that when you cast it into the ocean it does not go away. Plastic is everywhere: whales with their stomachs choking with plastic bags, seashores covered in plastic, plastic choking plants and choking us as a consequence.” –David Attenborough
The recent conference to address plastic pollution (UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee) ended without a consensus. The goal was to develop an international binding instrument on plastic pollution, addressing the entire lifecycle of plastic. In part it failed because oil-producing nations blocked curbs on production.
About four tonnes of plastic waste end up in Canadian landfills every year. Only eight per cent is recycled. The federal Liberals have broken their promises to reduce greenhouse gasses and pollution. At the current pace, attaining 40-50 per cent below 2008 levels by 2030 looks unlikely, let alone the goal of net-zero by 2050. Canada is the world’s 11th largest emitter and second largest emitter on a per person bases.
We face an uncertain future, with threats from all directions. The most prominent are climate change, nuclear warfare, invasion of deadly viruses and diseases and the confusion stemming from AI. The main issues in the provincial election were health care, education, the MOU, housing, cost of living and the like. Climate change and pollution received little attention from the parties.
The symptoms of an unhealthy planet are in plain sight: drought, flooding, wildfires, heat waves, storms and other natural disasters. They are not new, but they are more frequent and more extreme. What is the role of the provincial government in managing climate change and pollution? Plastic is just one of the pollutants we discard in our woods and water, our fields and shorelines. Have a look.
We seem to be at an impasse in dealing with climate change and pollution. Have we lost the inspiration and will to face the issue? Perhaps we feel our efforts make no difference or it’s up to governments. Maybe we are in denial or expect a “fix” from science. And there are those who believe it is just a hoax. There is a clash between those who want to save and serve Mother Earth and those who want her to serve us. We all need to think about our consuming lifestyles and the kind of planet we leave for future generations.
Another threat to our future not in the forefront in the election was the provincial debt. It now stands at 19 billion dollars net debt. There are no promises to reduce the debt, but plenty of promises whose cost will add to the debt. To service the debt, we pay one billion a year, which is the third largest cost in our budget. What we could do with those billion dollars each year!
Everett Hobbs,
CBS