Dear readers,
Isn’t it infuriating that the mounting toll of climate catastrophes don’t seem to trigger a massive push to prevent things from getting worse? Or that most politicians still won’t even acknowledge that burning fossil fuels is the main cause of the problem?
Even more to the point: how can it be that climate action has turned into a political punching bag? How can it be dropping down the public’s priorities as we head towards an election?
There are lots of explanations floating around, but one of the simplest might be that it requires a certain type of imagination.
The type that projects forward and imagines where the trends are headed. Maybe the kind of sentinel who can’t stop projecting forward — absorbing the warnings from scientists and marrying them with the jarring evidence of climate disasters. And then responding, not with self-protection and avoidance, but an urge to protect. To warn others and take action.
It’s a kind of hypersensitivity. It can feel like a curse. It can be maladaptive. It might sound self-aggrandizing.
It’s hard to predict how societies and politics will handle extended droughts, violent flooding and the displacement of populations. Sentinels aren’t always right.
But why would we take such enormous risks with our only home? And how can we possibly impose them on people that already live in poorer, hotter countries?
If you feel like a kind of sentinel, I hope you find my weekend newsletter useful. And that you’ll support the journalists at Canada’s National Observer who cover climate change with the priority it deserves.
Your donation pushes climate change along the national agenda even when people are overwhelmed by other issues.
Your support is especially important when people are overwhelmed by other issues. That’s when we need sentinels most of all.
You’ll be in good company. We’re grateful to count government ministers, NGO leaders, activists, CEOs, UN delegates, university professors, and more among our supporters who rely on our journalism to understand Canada’s changing climate. Your support means we can continue to help inform millions of Canadians about the essential climate stories that affect their lives.
Warmly,
Chris Hatch
Zero Carbon Columnist
Canada’s National Observer
Note: We are taking a break to refresh ourselves over this holiday season. We look forward to reconnecting on Sat. Jan. 4.
TOP STORY
The bombshell resignation of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on the very morning she was due to deliver a mini-budget consumed Ottawa this week. Rumours that Prime Minister Trudeau had lined up former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney to replace her failed to materialize. Either they weren’t true, or Carney bailed when everything hit the fan. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now being bombarded with calls to resign. He’s laying low for now, to contemplate next steps. But it’s a very rocky road ahead for him and the Liberal Party.
John Woodside and Natasha Bulowski report
Number of the Week
MORE CNO READS
👎🏼That threat by Doug Ford to cut off electricity exports to the U.S. was a bad move. Turns out, Canada is far more dependent on U.S. energy than the other way around. Canada’s contribution to the eastern U.S. grid is a mere 0.3 per cent. Ontario, on the other hand, imports the bulk of its natural gas and almost all of its gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from the U.S. Canada can’t win this one — the balance is clearly tipped in favour of President-elect Donald Trump.
Ross Belot writes
👀Imagine a battery that could carry your electric vehicle eight million kilometres. Heck your car wouldn’t even last that long. Researchers at Dalhousie University have spent six years charging and discharging a new type of lithium-ion battery material to see how long it lasts compared to a typical EV battery. The new battery tech significantly outperforms its older counterparts, and researchers say it won't be long before they're in EV battery packs. And don’t worry if the car falls apart before the battery: there are plenty of other uses for batteries, including power grid storage.
Cloe Logan reports
⚖️The political climate in Western democracies has taken a sharp right turn, including in Canada where the centrist federal Liberal party and the left-leaning NDP are struggling. One reason; growing inequality. The Liberals and the NDP have done little more than “tinker around the edges” of the growing wealth divide. When the balance is too out of whack and people at the bottom feel the deal is too raw, they look to any politician offering change.
Lori Lee Oates writes
🚗Canada has gone all in on electric vehicle and battery production, so a recent market wobble is cause for concern. We’re talking about serious investment here. Canadian taxpayers have contributed $52.5 billion to the industry through subsidies, tax credits and other funding from federal and provincial coffers. Industry investments are not far behind, pledging $46.1 billion in investments, mostly in Ontario and Quebec. Recently, a number of automakers postponed projects due to slowing consumer EV demand and battery producers are scaling back too. Jobs are at stake here and so is our climate: the shift to EVs is an essential part of our carbon pollution reduction plans.
Darius Sniekus reports