The war in Ukraine broke out on February 24, and the deluge of fire there pours out here in a torrent of staggering images of civilians holed up in basements, enlisting in the army or making Molotov cocktails.
In this vertiginous shift in the world order, the document published on February 28 by the IPCC went almost unnoticed. Despite the overwhelming report of an even more dramatic climatic situation than we thought, attention remained focused on the horror experienced in Ukraine… Is the war to blame, really?
This war is a tragedy of the first order, and yet it is not certain that it alone is responsible for the relative indifference with which the IPCC publication was received. Just turn a few pages of our calendar and go back to last month, when another news story filled the media space.
The Freedom Convoy made the headlines for weeks, sparking many debates on the limits of this famous freedom of some, which should stop where that of others begins. In particular, the tragedy experienced by many patients awaiting surgery, for lack of space in intensive care, was rightly underlined.
However, the debates only concerned the legitimacy of the refusal of the vaccination obligation, without ever approaching that of the means of expression of this refusal. Hundreds of thousands of kilometers have been furiously traveled at the wheel of metal monsters, without raising the climatic cost.
The idea of freedom convoys has even been taken up in other countries, by protesters who nevertheless have no connection with the trucking profession. And you, how do you laugh? While driving, of course! The truck, emblem of the anger of our rebels from here, and arm of honor to these more than three billion humans whom the IPCC qualifies as “very vulnerable to climate change”.
Atmospheric pollution
Another environmental issue passed over in silence, but which, this one, was suffered not by distant populations identified by statistics, but by the residents of Ottawa: atmospheric pollution. A truck releases greenhouse gases, but also fine particles and nitrogen dioxide, which contribute, according to the WHO, to one of the main environmental threats to human health.
How many premature deaths, in the months and years to come, precipitated by the hundreds of engines that purred through the streets of Ottawa to keep the protesters warm for three weeks? Much has been said, again rightly so, about noise and obstacles to traffic and commerce. But air quality, much less.
Never mind the noises of boots and the concert of horns: if the environmental sirens are inaudible, it’s because we don’t want to hear them. Along with the loss of biodiversity, global warming and pollution represent the main environmental threats to the health and even the survival of the human species. These threats are direct consequences of our way of life. Our responsibility, as a wealthy society, is enormous. At the height of our unconsciousness.
Consider global warming, for example. Each Canadian emits an average of 19.4 tonnes of CO equivalent2 ; 60 tonnes for the richest 10%, 10 for the poorest 50%. The limit not to be exceeded to contain global warming to less than 2°C compared to the pre-industrial era? 3.4 tons. The poorest half of the human population achieves this easily (1.6 tons).
The “window of opportunity” will soon be closed, insists the IPCC. We can’t say we didn’t know.