The secretary-general of the United Nations was one of an estimated 300,000 people who marched in New York Sunday during the People's Climate March.
Ban Ki-moon said climate change must be stopped because there is no "Plan B" as there is no "Planet B." Meanwhile, Canada's prime minister decided to skip the climate change summit. Stephen Harper skipping the summit doesn't surprise us. Harper, in fact, seems to be jumping on the "bring on climate change faster" wagon instead.
Here in B.C., we see the push for the Kinder Morgan pipeline in Burnaby increasing, while Port Metro Vancouver recently approved a coal transfer facility in Surrey. Both, by the way, are being built just to export the fuel. This despite scientific evidence - and just plain common sense - that tells us fossil fuel is unhealthy and unsustainable.
But shortsighted political leaders apparently don't care about the future of the planet.
They might, however, care about their political futures. Folks may take their time in waking up to the dangers of climate change, but they are waking up to it. And they won't blame their next-door neighbours or China. They will lay the blame clearly where it should be - on Harper-like politicians who will sell out their children's futures and the planet's for a quick buck.
As one expert said, "We are rushing headlong into catastrophic tipping points in our climate system."
The most recent survey in Burnaby on residents' views on the Kinder Morgan pipeline reveals that opposition numbers are growing. Will this stop Kinder Morgan or coal promoters or plans for fracking? Probably not. Port Metro didn't take local opposition into account when it approved the coal transfer facility.
The next generation may well look back and shake their heads that here in B.C. in 2014 folks were debating pipeline routes and coal facilities at all. It may be akin to Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
