Save the environment, boot out Harper and change the world

[Oscar]

Save the environment, boot out Harper and change the world

[ http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/michel- ... ange-world ]

By Michel Lambert | May 8, 2014

The decision concerning the development of Northern Gateway's pipeline will be revealed sometime during the first week of June. It's safe to say that no one is waiting with bated breath. Everyone knows all too well that even if Stephen Harper would be the only Canadian supporting the project, it will go through -- despite having lost referendums and faced opposition from Indigenous peoples and Canadian citizens alike -- ignoring Canada's responsibilities and the negative impact that expanding the tar sands industry will have on climate change. A recent exchange with Barack Obama in regards to the Keystone XL pipeline sums it up: Harper "won't take no for an answer."

So is that it? Is this the end? Thankfully not. That very same first week of June 2014 will see the creation of an unprecedented process; the Social Movements' Assembly on Climate Change, in Montreal, precisely where most of the attention of the pro-pipeline will turn given that Quebec is in front of two other major pipeline projects.

The Assembly's mission and process are clear: the Assembly wishes to address the issue of further developing tar sands head-on, since it's the main culprit in increasing greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.

Climate at risk

Since the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in 1990, it is abundantly clear that greenhouse gas emissions provoked by the combustion of oil, gas and coal are overwhelming the global climate. Climate change has already begun, sparking an increase of 0.8 degrees Celsius since the industrial revolution. At this moment in time, the International Energy Agency warns that the world is heading towards a dizzying increase of four to five degrees Celsius, not a mere two degrees as previously suspected.

Harper in denial

All the while, the Harper government refuses to recognize the urgency of the problem and refuses to offer solutions to ensure that realistic goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are met. Quite the contrary: he has systematically attacked different processes meant to protect the environment, which can only mean one thing: we must mobilise massively, and fast.

With the omnibus Bill C-38, Harper considerably reduced evaluations of that environmental impact on new tar sand development projects, as well other projects that would create emissions. He has questioned the territorial integrity of First Nations with Bill C-45, his second attempt at a mammoth omnibus bill. He then sought to destabilize environmental groups by over-reviewing their finances and monitoring their every move in a disproportionate, Orwellian fashion. While rules to limit emissions from the oil and gas industries are still awaited, the Harper government allocates $1.4 billion-grants to oil companies, year after year.

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The heart of the beast

Approaching the fight against climate change as a stepping stone against Harper can only pave the way to a future in which governments who choose to ignore social action, citizenry and democracy, and who attempt to prioritize corporate interests over the common good would be ousted from power without a chance of aspiring to it once more.

Of course, the struggle won't be easy. After all, we are aiming the heart of the beast: Free Trade, deregulation, neoliberalism, extractivism. Powerful lobbies and interest groups will be a big obstacle. But this is the most direct strategy to bring back social justice, and respect of nature, as major values of interest in public debates.

The struggle against climate change is a struggle against the system at the heart of the current federal government. And beyond the citizen Stephen Harper or the Conservative Party, when we'll shake the system, we will change the world.