Early March. It’s drizzling and it’s hot, too hot. On February 27, a heat record was recorded. A sort of ethereal atmosphere envelops the neighborhood. People go out, many are happy to breathe the fresh air after being tucked away for a few weeks. For my part, I find it heavy, oppressive. On the radio, I hear a cheerful tone saying: “That’s great, we can play golf!” »
Goodbye cross-country skiing, powder snow, winter. Quebec is robbed of its very essence. Have a good break… what to do?
Recently, during a dinner with friends, one boasted of wanting to go live elsewhere, since he was tired of the erratic Quebec winters. I looked at the speaker. If we have reached this point, it is not inevitable. This reminds me of the cholesterol pill. Many people prefer to swallow a small daily pill rather than change their habits; it’s much easier.
For the environment, it’s the same thing: it’s easier to escape than to change one’s behavior and demand to get out of this stifling system focused on infinite growth in a world of finite resources. Let’s run away, that way we won’t have to think. Let’s close our eyes, the intoxication will be less brutal.
It is so hot. Every day, I feel a little more shame seeing people accept, without complaining, all the condescension that drips from a government that favors the rich and crushes the common people, by refusing to transfer a lease (in the middle of housing crisis!), absence of environmental assessment (in the middle of a climate crisis!), attempt to privatize electricity (while there is said to be a lack of money for the public sector!). The government is supposed to make decisions for the people who elected it, not to feed its own interests.
Speaking of electricity, we dare to address the question of restarting a nuclear power plant in Quebec, with all the very real risks for the population. But what is this outdated idea? Are we incapable of going on a diet, of consuming less? Where did the “we” go? Living together?
We are walled in our individualism and it blinds us. And what are the authorities doing with speeches and advertisements? They make individuals feel guilty, so that they do not realize that, higher up, nothing is done. Otherwise, why would the billboards along the highways stay lit all night, all year round, just like the headlights in car shops? At a time when we are being encouraged to reduce our consumption, this is outrageous. Robust regulations must be put in place. Sobriety must be the only option, at all levels.
February and the beginning of March are not mild, they are abnormal. We must stop hiding the truth behind beautiful trappings. I hope that citizens will mobilize to demand more from the government rather than remaining passive. May our anger light an inner fire that leaders will never extinguish.
We must act now, together.