There’s been a lot of finger pointing towards the GNWT over the disastrous wildfires that have rocked the NWT over the past few weeks.
I’ve seen people question why the Minister of four separate government departments appeared to be not up to date on how quickly winds moved fires in Maui, Hawaii. I’ve also seen people question why the GNWT didn’t have an “evacuate the entire territory” plan ready to go for this occurrence.
You almost get the impression some people think the government can predict the future. But as wildfire information officer Mike Westwick has been stressing all week, conditions have changed so dramatically that crews are unsure what’s going to happen day to day, never mind when the fires are going to stop being a threat or when it will be safe for people to come home.
Across the world, the only people we have to blame for this situation are the folks we see in the mirror every morning. Scientists have been warning us global warming was coming — and it was going to be very, very bad — for over a century. The first news article about fossil fuels changing the climate was printed in a New Zealand newspaper in 1912.
Ever since then, voters have consistently told governments to not take action on climate change. Voters have consistently told governments to protect established industries and to delay, delay and further delay international treaties. Many voters continue to do this to this day — Alberta’s recently elected government just put a freeze on climate-friendly solar and wind energy projects for reasons so obviously bogus news reporters practically bulldozed the Premier in a news conference two weeks back.
We’ve all heard the excuses, and most of them aren’t even remotely factual. Canada is a smaller contributor to greenhouse gases among the G8, but the intensity and consistency of our emissions are considerably higher than most. Complaints other countries aren’t trying to meet emission targets are usually uninformed — China is becoming a global superpower in the green energy market and could be completely switched to electronic vehicles within the decade. Even the ethical oil argument requires you to ignore how difficult it’s been to get Truth and Reconciliation started and the ongoing resistance to searching for potential mass graves throughout the country.
Regardless, governments have heard this message loud and clear and at worst have basically ignored the climate change problem and at most have tried to balance the needs of the environment with industry — which has almost always resulted in industry claiming it’s under attack. Again, this is still happening today and you only need to look at national news to see examples.
At no point has Canada ever elected a government that has been completely focused on tackling climate change. Justin Trudeau may be the closest we’ve gotten but anyone who covers environmental policy can tell you we’re still not doing enough. Had Stephen Harper not pulled Canada out of the Kyoto Accord and George W. Bush not pulled the U.S. out of the international treaty, things might be different today. But we prioritized money over health and here we are.
Blaming current governments for the results of climate change is ludicrous. The only thing governments are guilty of is listening to the will of the people consistently demanding they prioritize the economy over the environment.
This is a problem decades in the making. We the people are solely responsible for the state of the world today. The buck stops with the voter and offloading responsibility onto the government that obeys the voter is simply being irresponsible.