Nature’s great orchestra is losing its score. As the climate deteriorates and we encroach on the territory, the wrong notes are heard: a polar bear washes up in Gaspé, a herd of deer settles in the middle of town and the music of dawn changes with the once familiar birdsong disappears as other strangers come to us from the south.
These disruptions that are often evoked by iconic images of melting ice caps or coral reefs bleached by the overheating of the oceans are beginning to find their expressions here.
We understand that the climate is warming and that the glaciers are melting. But what does the decline of bees, the disappearance of monarch butterflies, the whales stranded in the St. Lawrence, the last caribou of a declining herd put in enclosures mean for us? With the carnage of biodiversity, it’s much more than honey or our photos of belugas that are disappearing.
Pollinating insects are essential to the survival of many crops on which our food and our economy depend; losing the bees means losing part of our pantry, it means increasing food prices. And the Longueuil tree frog, so publicized lately? With the destruction of its habitat, the marshes and lowlands south of Montreal, it is much more than its song that is disappearing.
Protect the services rendered
Why is it so important to protect our natural environments, our agricultural fields, our waterways, our wetlands from urban sprawl and the endless paving of roads and parking lots? Because these green spaces are teeming with underground life, animals and trees that provide us with countless services: they filter pollutants from the water and air, reduce the risk of flooding by absorbing excess water, reduce the effects of heat waves by bringing freshness, reduce our stress and fill our lives with meaning through simple contact with nature. These benefits are extremely important in the context of a climate emergency.
Climate and biodiversity scientists are sounding the alarm: the climate crisis and the collapse of biodiversity are intimately linked and we must jointly resolve these two crises that threaten the future of Humanity.
Decisive elections
Quebec is no exception: violent winds that uproot trees and deprive thousands of people of electricity, sewer overflows and landslides, coastal erosion, etc.
In view of the October 3 elections, candidates must take note of the urgency of the situation and make an ambitious commitment to prepare Quebec to deal with these situations: by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), by protecting our natural environments and adapting our services and infrastructures.
For the moment, the observation is without appeal. The number of contradictory measures that tackle these crises separately is multiplying: electrifying the car fleet while encouraging urban sprawl, the extension and widening of motorways; protection of certain natural environments and important carbon sinks, but destruction of others in the very heart of our cities; encouragement to buy local, but complacency in the face of the Port of Montreal’s expansion project, which will encourage the importation of goods and overconsumption while destroying the essential habitat of the copper redhorse.
Choose the solutions
The 48 environmental proposals that the partners of Vire au Vert shared with the political parties in view of the general elections in Quebec go beyond the question of GHG emissions and the consumption of fossil fuels. Like the international expert groups on climate and biodiversity, our recommendations advocate a global approach to the environmental crisis: they seek to reduce emissions from transport, but also taking into account those resulting from land conversion, agriculture or waste materials; they tackle the degradation of natural environments, while recalling their unavoidable role in the fight against and adaptation to climate change. Our proposals make justice, equity, health and human well-being a transversal axis of all environmental action.
We must prevent inconsistent approaches from taking hold in Quebec. We must protect the living by doing everything possible to counter the climate crisis and the decline of biodiversity, by allying ourselves with nature. Our candidates must understand the magnitude of the issues and propose ambitious solutions. For this, the proposals of Vire au Vert already provide a good starting point and reflection on the commitments of political parties with regard to the climate crisis and biodiversity. We hope to hear proposed solutions in a possible leaders’ debate focusing exclusively on the issue of the climate crisis and biodiversity.
Quebec media, party leaders, you must be the key and the tempo at the beginning of the score — at the risk of seeing the music stop.
* The complete list of signatories is available on our digital platforms.