In The duty on October 19, Mr. Karl Blackburn, President and Chief Executive Officer for the Conseil du patronat du Québec, wrote a text, my faith, quite moving on postpandemic living together. Its title was: “Sweeping away fear and hatred in a post-pandemic Quebec.” “
On reading his text, one may wonder why this kind of thinking is not applied, by the economic world, to the climate emergency.
For example, we are told that we are afraid of what we do not know, but we continue to apply economic recipes from another century that can only lead us into the wall. Sometimes we coat them in green polish or the word sustainable to get the pill through, but the goal is always the same, which is to have infinite growth in a finite world. We are told about equity, when it is those who contribute the least to climate change who will suffer the most, both in our own region and in developing countries. Indeed, you are right, no one should be left behind! But this is not the path that we are currently heading.
We are referring to the lack of knowledge which has perverse effects and, at the same time, we seem to ignore the very large amount of scientific research which tells us the urgency of the situation and indicates to us the solutions that must be applied. And they are far from being technological, these solutions, while a large bundle of money is often devoted to them!
Yes, we must talk and understand each other to stem the pandemic. It’s exactly the same for the climate emergency! COP26 is here to remind us!
You are right, Mr Blackburn, as players in economic life, it is your duty to push the wheel, but it should be done in a whole new direction!