Allow me to start this column by wishing you a happy new year 2024. As comedian Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais ironically predicted in song in the Bye Bye 2023 by announcing the imminent end of humanity, let us hope that this will take place in a just and equitable transition towards a better world by 2024.
Let us remember that in the final moments of COP28 in Dubai, the term “transition” resonated like a leitmotif. As expected, the negotiations were difficult. Nevertheless, we had to face the facts: from this large assembly, we could only hope for a modest consensus, far from the great hopes.
In a burst of goodwill at the start of the year, let us admit that despite disappointments with the limited commitments in response to the immensity of the climate crisis, all the actors involved are striving to find common ground in the middle of a multitude of divergent interests. Because choosing always implies renunciation and, in this context, the stakes are colossal.
The current media landscape is full of dystopian films and series. These end-of-the-world stories, far from being simple entertainment, echo a latent anxiety among a part of the population. This reflects their idea of the imminence of a tragic conclusion for our civilization.
This end of the world takes a different form for each of us. As I mentioned above, to choose is to give up. Extreme climatic phenomena, increasingly frequent and violent, confront us with the pressing need to adapt our lifestyles. Driven by necessity, we are learning, little by little, to demonstrate resilience in the face of these upheavals.
This often involves the painful mourning of a practice, a treasured possession, or an ingrained habit. Hence the unequal difficulty of abandonment from one person to another. Imagine the stakes when lives depend on them, when enormous financial profits are at stake, or even in the face of our visceral attachment to the car. This is the whole meaning of the expression “in a fair, orderly and equitable manner” used in the final text of the COP28 agreement, in reference to the energy transition away from fossil fuels.
At the heart of our collective quest for a viable future is the capacity to enact crucial changes in the way we live, a capacity which would be firmly anchored in our individual willingness to renounce the world as it is. To paraphrase Michel Rivard, we will each have our “very personal end of the world”.
Take, for example, the start of the year, which until recently was almost without snow in several regions of Quebec. It is through this new reality that we foresee the gradual — but certain — disappearance of many of our precious winter activities. Although this perspective has been discussed for years now, being faced with this reality inexorably forces us to begin a grieving process.
For many of us, including myself, it is the gradual evaporation of outdoor rinks that marks a significant loss. This change, although appearing superficial to some, is by no means trivial. These gathering spaces are true symbols of our Quebec cultural identity. They are slowly but surely disappearing from our landscape, inevitably bringing debates and questions in their wake.
This reality has already established itself in several municipalities. Nowadays, the question of whether or not to maintain spaces intended for our national sport, hockey, comes with an imperative analysis of costs and benefits. We watch helplessly as the number of outdoor rinks closes and decreases.
Should we then consider building refrigerated ice rinks in our parks? When we consider the astronomical construction costs, the maintenance costs, the limited period of use and the cost/user ratio, we can be skeptical about the relevance of such an approach. Perhaps we should think about a more judicious distribution of ice rinks in our arenas, although this requires delicate compromises with the sports clubs which currently occupy them.
This example illustrates the type of renunciation that climate change is forcing us to consider in this new world in full transition. Faced with these unavoidable changes, it is understandable to see the emergence of an exacerbated conservatism. The ability to agree to let go of what one cherishes varies greatly from person to person, making the process complex and emotionally personal.
In a context where right-wing populism feeds on the fear of the renunciations imposed on us and defies facts and scientific reality, we are witnessing the end of a world that its supporters promote even if it has led us to the current climate crisis.
For the year 2024, I express the wish that we witness the end of this world and that we embrace, individually and collectively, the transition towards a fairer and more equitable future. A future in which we are ready to accept the renunciations and abandonments necessary to sacrifice what once shaped and sustained our way of life.