The climate emergency is no longer knocking on the door, it has been knocking it down for years now. All the signals are red, credible international organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the United Nations indicate that our actions are leading us irremediably towards environmental catastrophe. We are talking about upheavals so significant that our adaptation measures, which occupy far too much space in our collective discussions to the detriment of the means to combat the problem at the source, will only be of very little help and will also contribute to amplify the problem.
To solve it, the main actions to which governments devote significant resources are to invest in “industries of the future” such as batteries, wind farms and other seemingly green projects, which only have the name. These measures have the important drawback of not truly reducing our environmental footprint and keep us in this model of economic growth and hyperconsumption, a deadly vision, which is undoubtedly now leading us towards the greatest crisis that we will have to go through. humanity throughout its long history.
Symptomatic of this paradigm from which we cannot escape, the climate envoy and former American Secretary of State John Kerry recently hammered home his speech according to which it is essential to find new sources of financing to invest in fight against climate change. While investing in a cocktail of measures can undoubtedly help us reduce the effects of the crisis, this still eliminates the most effective way to get out of it: reducing our consumption.
We must and can now reduce this consumption, this will have an immediate impact on the emission of greenhouse gases responsible, as everyone should know by now, for the increase in global temperatures on the planet. The most incredible thing, although it is an immense challenge, is that it does not require massive investments, it only requires political courage and a legislative framework more adapted to this exceptional situation.
And if we decide to be collectively united, we could even approach these changes by improving our quality of life. Indeed, it is true that reducing our consumption will force us to prohibit certain purchases and certain practices, and this will inexorably lead to job losses.
The challenge will be not to let down those who will be affected in this way. Let’s see this as an opportunity to reduce the working week, to create new jobs in more environmentally friendly sectors. Let’s treat ourselves to the joy of not having to invest billions in expanding an airport and let’s limit air transport. Let’s adopt a moratorium on any new road network expansion project.
Let’s put an end to our ambiguous thinking and be consistent: let’s not accept projects that considerably amplify the problem. Let’s pass laws to make homes and cars smaller, invest in insulating our aging housing stock, and avoid building new dams. Let us dare to collectively discuss demography and put the brakes on growth without slowing down the development of our society.
Rather than rejoicing at the increase in their population and becoming the apostles of the increase in housing density that no one wants, the elected officials of Quebec cities should work to improve the living environment of their fellow citizens, an objective more easily achievable if they are not continually obliged to invest colossal sums to meet the increase in needs due to growth. And let’s free ourselves from this stubborn myth which makes too many elected officials say that growth is necessary to provide services to the population. If this principle is applicable to small municipalities, it is totally wrong for more populous cities.
Mentalities must change within the population, and this should be reflected in the decisions taken by our elected officials, even if it seems legitimate to me to hope that they will now show more courage to combat this enormous crisis and take action thus as true leaders. The government could start with actions as simple as appointing a competent Minister of the Environment and not making Quebec’s industrial development our main social project. Let’s collectively stop procrastinating and dare to take meaningful action to meet the challenges we face and will face.