CREDIT: VOLKER GÖLLNER / ISTOCK / THINKSTOCK
On Oct. 19, vote for a party who will help our environment, not focus on short-term gains.

Last week I wrote about the words that open the Christian Bible. Those words about the beginning of the world are highly structured. In other words, and to over-simplify, they are a poem. It teaches many things, but for now I am focusing on just two, that the world is a creation of God and that it is our home.

I don’t think it is helpful to read this poem as an actual description of how the world came to be. But it does teach things that are actually true.

As things stand, human beings are not doing very well with the corner of God’s creation that is our home. And unfortunately, during the lead up to the election, we are not saying and hearing enough about our poor record of Earth-keeping or our environmental challenges.

Even David Suzuki, Canada’s most well known ambassador for the environment, rarely gets national attention for his warnings these days.

Recently, though, he received some press for calling Justin Trudeau a “twerp” during a testy exchange over the phone about the environment.

According to an article by Maclean’s Magazine, Suzuki stated to Trudeau that, in order to avoid going over the two degree rise in climate temperature that we seem to be willing to live with, 80 per cent of the oil in the Alberta tar sands needs to stay there. The Keystone and Northern Gateway projects should simply be shelved. When Trudeau called Suzuki’s views “sanctimonious crap” Suzuki shot back with the t-word.

Many do take Suzuki’s views on the development of the oil sands very seriously. Sadly, a good number of economists and political leaders do not.

As far as I can tell, there is only one federal party that is taking seriously the need for us human beings to end our love affair with oil.

At present we are too dependent on fossil fuels. Every litre of gasoline and diesel fuel we burn helps raise carbon levels and the temperature of the air. Yet, many talk as if we can’t possibly survive without increasing our oil production.

Their gospel of wealth through the oil industry growth is a gospel of despair, and we should not be seduced by it.

Instead, we should first renew our understanding of the world as God’s creation and ourselves as the stewards of our planet. Taking care of this world is not an option for which we must beg permission from economists. All first nations, subsequent settlers and today’s immigrants, are obliged to work together as stewards of the earth without being talked down to by bankers and bullied by so called analysts and “leaders” of industry. The Christian pastors, priests, church ministers and biblical scholars in this country should make this clear for us all.

Second, we should realize that the world is a moral world; therefore, when we do right, others are inspired to do right. And when we do wrong, others are inspired to do the same. This means that we should do the right thing right here where we are whether or not others are onside right away.

The Conservative government and others who believe they will profit enormously from the sale of oil have missed the boat on this. I’ll use their talking up of the Alberta tar sands as an example. They often say something like the following, “The development of the tar sands will contribute only a small percentage of the overall carbon that is going to warm the Earth. We have to wait until all other countries behave in lock step to reduce carbon emissions before we sacrifice the goose that will lay our golden eggs.”

That argument is an insult to Canadians and people of all countries. It tells us that we are not smart enough to work together towards the rapid reduction of the use of fossil fuels. It tells us that we should behave immorally, that we should value short-term economic gains over long-term negative consequences. Doing this will not only be exceedingly destructive and exceedingly lethal to the poor people dependant on fragile ecosystems, but will also be exceedingly negative for our markets. It is a recipe for short-term gain in exchange for long-term pain and injustice.

This quote also assumes that human beings are not moral beings and that we are not allowed to inspire each other with right action unless we can get the “okay” from Scroogelike accountants and investment managers.

It is going to be hard to avoid the wasteland that scientists say is in store if we don’t respond with energy and creativity to the crisis of global warming. But perhaps during this election more Canadians will renounce the economists of greed and despair who tiresomely tell us that we are too ignorant and immoral to really do what needs to be done.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.