This Letter to the Editor was written by Ray Nakano and published in the Toronto Star on November 18, 2023.

Green co-leader says Canada’s climate fight is nearly lost, Nov. 9

Although I appreciate Jonathan Pedneault’s harsh words, telling it like it is, it is not the way to win over the public by calling them “idiots.” He is correct in stating that we are headed to a “climate hell” if we continue as we are doing business as usual.

The current federal climate action plan is problematic: its continuing policy delays (clean electricity, emissions caps), few measurable targets, a now tarnished carbon fee and dividend program (not a carbon tax), and implementation delays (the federal promise to plant two billion trees by 2030). As pointed out by the federal environmental commissioner, we are on our way to missing (again) our latest emissions reduction goal set for 2030, continuing our reputation as the laggard country of the G7.

We, Canadians, need to wake up. We are experiencing what will be our hottest year ever. Our worst wildfire season will get worse. There is no “new normal.” It will get hotter, drier, wetter … all because we are in a climate crisis. Our children and grandchildren will be choking on increasing carbon pollution and wildfire smoke, or worse — unless we wake up and take action.

Switch your furnace to a heat pump, switch to an EV … stop burning fossil fuels. Talk about our climate crisis. Unless we talk about it, we won’t do anything about it.

Our politicians are being lobbied by fossil fuel companies, land developers, even our financial institutions (RBC was the largest investor in fossil fuels in 2022, in the world). We voters need to demand that our elected representatives take urgent and drastic action to stop the development and expansion of more fossil fuel production, stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, stop supporting developers in building unnecessary highways and encroaching on our greenbelts, stop fossil gas heating in new housing development. Instead, start investing in electrification of our heating and our public transit, and renewables: solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal.

We should be demanding that our fossil fuel companies develop their plans for winding down their production: 40 per cent by 2030, to zero by 2050.How else will we get to net zero?

We need to demand all of this before it’s too late.

Ray Nakano, Toronto