Alberta’s Climate Plan: Game Changed

Ever have one of those days when all the assumptions you had about an issue turned upside down? Today (November 22^nd) is one of those days.

Addressing climate change in Canada has long been an intractable problem. This is because, despite the slowly transforming economies and declining carbon pollution emissions in Ontario, Quebec and B.C., Alberta’s emissions were growing at a breakneck pace and wiping out the reductions happening everywhere else. As a result Canadian governments were left with two options: deny or avoid the problem, or force change on Alberta.

Needless to say previous federal governments have consistently chosen door one.

But today’s climate change announcement in Alberta could change all that forever. The new plan will:

• Cap the carbon emissions from the tar sands at 100 MT and eventually force them to decline
• Close the fleet of coal electricity plants by 2030, drastically reducing both deadly local air pollution and also massive amounts of carbon emissions
• Increase the amount of renewable electricity on the grid to 30% by the same year
• See Alberta join with Ontario, Quebec and B.C. in putting a price on carbon pollution. Alberta’s price will start at $20/year in 2017, rise to $30 in 2018 and then rise annually. Money from the fee will be invested in programs to further reduce carbon emissions and help to ensure that price increases don’t harm citizens with limited income
• Significantly reduce waste methane emissions from oil and gas wells that are also important causes of climate change

This is a historic moment for Alberta and Canada. This is a commitment to tangible and aggressive climate action and we all should applaud Alberta for this huge change in direction.

Based on this announcement, Alberta’s carbon pollution should soon peak and start to decline. This is a fundamental pivot after years of uncontrolled carbon emissions growth and it removes one of the largest barriers to developing a meaningful Canadian climate strategy.

This announcement also sets Alberta on a path toward diversifying its economy and recognizing that a global transition away from fossil fuels is essential if the world as we know it is to survive. The money collected from a new price on carbon pollution can be invested in more energy efficient homes and businesses, new clean technology and renewable energy jobs.

With this move from Alberta, there is now nothing standing in the federal government’s way of developing a credible climate strategy and following Alberta’s lead by setting a limit on carbon pollution in Canada. Canada can now move ahead and fulfill its promise to cut carbon pollution in line with global science-based targets. 

Today’s announcement is very good news for Albertans and Canadians. It will help protect us all from dangerous climate change, set the scene for Canada to restore our good name, and places the country and the province in a solid position to harness the opportunities for growth in a clean economy.

This is the beginning of something new, folks. I am looking forward to a new Canada on the stage in Paris at the U.N. climate negotiations.

Guest blogger, Tim Gray, Executive Director of Environment Defence www.environmentaldefence.ca/

Another Messenger Came…..Will We Listen?

Another Messenger Came…..Will We Listen?

...David Suzuki came, a voice crying in the wilderness; we laughed and barely listened as the smog increased.

...The First Nations came, beating drums for Mother Earth; we polluted the water and raped the land.

...The scientists came, with unquestionable evidence – the sea is rising, the earth is warming, the ozone is disappearing; we silenced them and destroyed their research.

...The poor came, unable to till the barren soil now becoming deserts; we turned away and continued our destructive ways.

...The hurricanes, fires, tsunamis and blizzards came; we rebuilt and carried on as usual.

...Pope Francis came carrying peace and Laudato Si.  Will we listen and mend our destructive path to end it all?

Will We Listen?

Jean Moylan, CSJ

Be careful we all live down river!

On Saturday October 18^th, we attended a local workshop entitled Down River- Watershed Discipleship--sponsored by KAIROS Canada http://www.kairoscanada.org/

About 50 of us joined together to learn and to affirm our interest in keeping our local watersheds healthy—for our own sakes and that of the generations to come.

Our Aboriginal sister Mary Deleary shared with us the wisdom of the First Nations that the water is a not a commodity.  It is a sacred spirit.  Mary, an Algonquian Anishnawbe mother and grandmother reminded us that we are born through water. Our water has rights.  If it is not well, we are not well.  Our actions impact the health of the water.  Did you know the standards for water consumed by cattle are higher than standards for water consumed by humans?  We were reminded that humankind depends on the birds, the animals, water and the earth; however, these things do not depend on us for their survival. When our settler ancestors came to North America, they called it the “New Land”.  It was not new.  All parts of the earth are the same age.  It just seemed ‘new’ because the Aboriginal people had lived in harmony with the land and did not abuse it.

George Henry, an elder of the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation, talked of the treaties that our settler ancestors signed with the First Nations. Aboriginal people do not believe that the land can be owned by anyone.  When they signed the treaties they agreed to share the land with us.  Many of these treaties are not respected.  There are ongoing lawsuits that will hopefully result in more protection for the land, the water and the Aboriginal people.

Sara Stratton from KAIROS Canada--the Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiative-- showed us a map of Canada that indicated the 5 watersheds of our country. Whatever happens in one watershed—affects oceans that surround us. Did you know that our bodies our composed of 2/3 water and most of that water comes from our local watershed?  She talked of Watershed Discipleship/Reconciliation. She suggested we “decolonize” ourselves and that we “indigenize” ourselves.  We need to learn about the “theology of watersheds”. What is our impact on our local watershed?  What happens upstream effects downstream.

Often economic interests are put before a healthy relationship with water. “You can’t eat money!” says Bryan Smith the chairperson for Oxford People against the Landfill (OPAL). http://www.opalalliance.ca/

He is a strong advocate and educator. OPAL has organized a protest against turning a limestone quarry into a landfill for garbage..This porous quarry is right beside the Thames River and any leaks would cause grave environmental damage. The Council of Canadians  http://canadians.org/public-water   is calling for Direct Action—talking is not enough.  See more at http://thamesriver.on.ca/watershed-health/  and at http://www.kettlecreekconservation.on.ca/

Join us--be a down river disciple!

Sr Mary Boere csj and Associates Jean Bowden and Pat Howe

We said it would take everyone to change everything….and everyone came.

Well, at least 400,000 people came to New York City on September 21, 2014 for the largest climate change march in history.

One marvels at the sound of people gathering together to make choices. What has shifted the field of consciousness as we approach the Climate Change conference in Paris in 2015.

• Is it Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, published in 1962?

• Is it climate prophets like Bill McKibben and Dr. James Hansen along with a cast of thousands who have staked their lives on awakening us to our planetary citizenship and our collective power?

• Is it the poets and the poet in each of us that senses a full-present intimacy with everything that is?

• Is it the 6 p.m. news capturing images of the devastation of typhoons, hurricanes and forest fires?

• Is it the persistent voice of the Idle No More movements calling us to pay attention to the pollution of our water courses?

• Is it the mother, father or teacher creating school gardens and building compost piles?

• Is it researchers raising their voices about the life of the planet?

• Is it the wonder that sometimes catches our breath when we see the full moon rising and we sense something akin to communion?

Quite simply, it is everything.

Choices large and small are creating new fields of consciousness. We seem to know in our bones what Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, stated. “There is no plan B to reverse climate change because there is no Planet B.

As the climate marchers said in New York, “We said it would take everyone…and everyone came.”

Margo Ritchie CSJ

Straight-talk on Climate Change

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has released a hard-hitting video that calls for the end of the fossil fuel era. He makes important links between climate change, damage to the earth, human rights and poverty. And in true Tutu fashion, he locates the source of hope within us – in our capacity to respond collectively to this decisive moment in human history.

Sue Wilson CSJ