Vote to save the Earth

This election will be key for Canada.

No matter who wins, we will be facing down a series of environmental crises ranging from climate change to critical threats to biodiversity. No matter who wins, the same corporate lobbyists who try to stall action to address issues like plastic pollution and climate change will continue their efforts.

But elections offer us a window during which party leaders and officials are more engaged with the public. This is a time when party stances are put to a test in votes, discussed at length on media networks, and a time when candidates find out just how much support their communities are willing to give them.

This year, we are making change as part of One Earth One Vote and are asking people to talk directly with their candidates about these issues at the doorstep and on calls.

Party leaders and candidates have a lot of explaining to do. We’ve heard loud and clearly from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report that our country’s rush to develop more reserves of fossil fuels must end. We’ve seen first-hand the impacts of climate change in communities across the country. While wildfires caused mass destruction across Canada, the Yukon dealt with flooding and the Prairies fought off droughts. For years, coastal communities have watched as erosion creeps ever closer to infrastructure, and degraded sea ice, changes in wildlife, and weather conditions continue to impact northern and Indigenous communities.

From data to realities

No matter how many news items we see on climate change or biodiversity, it never becomes as real to us as when we see it first-hand. I was a contributing author on a recent chapter of a national climate change assessment by the Canadian government — an assessment that makes it clear we need better support and research to help rural and remote communities in Canada adapt to the impacts of climate change, which have already been set into motion. While doing research on the subject of rural and remote climate impacts, I was aware climate change continues to put communities in remote areas, with the least resources to adapt, most at risk.

But it’s moments like sandbagging around homes in the Yukon this summer to hold back rising waters that drive home to me the reality of what this research actually means. It was understanding that a wildfire in B.C. could easily cut off food supply to the Yukon, worsening already extensive issues of northern food security. It was seeing communities back home in Newfoundland and Labrador deal with the reality of changing coastlines — seeing homes down close to the shoreline and well within predicted margins for sea level rise — that made climate change real for me.

Biodiversity, too, is declining across the globe. Unless we act quickly to protect ecosystems here in Canada and elsewhere, we will worsen a global extinction event that will undermine the natural world as well as our physical and mental health. People are noticing the changes in the environment around their communities that were set into motion by human activity decades ago and which we are continuing to be set into motion.

What you can do

The biodiversity and climate crises we face will make COVID-19 look manageable by comparison unless they are addressed with the same urgency. As voters, we have power — not just through our ballots, but through the questions we bring to candidates (on- and off-line) to shape the political discourse on these issues for the next four years.

We are asking you to reach out to the people running in your neighbourhood, to the national party leaders, to make sure they put climate change and biodiversity on the top of their agenda. Because there are solutions, lots of them, to the issues we are facing.

Make no mistake, this fight doesn’t end when the election does. No matter who is in power, it will be our responsibility to make sure they keep their commitments and to keep pushing for more action. This is just the beginning.

Don’t let candidates forget

It’s important when a candidate or their representative comes to your door that you ask them to commit to act on the environment. If a campaign calls you, spend some time asking important questions about their approach to the climate crisis.

Ask them how they will address Indigenous rights to free, prior, and informed consent, climate change, and biodiversity loss. Ask them how they will secure the ability of all people to enjoy and experience nature.

Encourage your neighbours and friends to do the same. A full list of the commitments we are calling for during this election can be found here.

No matter what issues you discuss, express to your candidates that a party’s entire platform is an environmental issue. After all, every element of their platform should be in line with necessary climate change and biodiversity goals. As David Currie, our donor and member relations co-ordinator, puts it: “We wouldn’t accept a party platform without proper economic costing, so why would we accept a party platform without proper carbon costing for all proposals?”

Together we can make a huge difference.

Conor Curtis is a social and environmental researcher and writer from Corner Brook, N.L. They are currently digital communications co-ordinator for the Sierra Club Canada Foundation.