As always, I know this is just my tumblr account & most people who see this are not Canadian. But if you could boost it for the Canadians, I'd appreciate it. (also even if u aren't Canadian, email ur gov representative about climate change policies and how we need them more than ever. see: European heat wave, ongoing droughts, not implementing climate change policy now will be more costly in the long run, etc.)
My home province of Ontario is currently on fire. The north of my province currently has over 150 wildfires raging in it, causing evacuations from communities–a lot of which are Indigenous communities–while also causing some of the worst air quality in the world (Toronto, yesterday July 15th).
The way our government works, we have municipal (city or county gov), provincal, and federal (whole country). Last year our Premier (head of the province), Doug Ford, cut $40 million in wildfire response, also cutting an additional $4 million from emergency preparedness. My brother-in-law is currently risking his life in Northern Ontario fighting these fires, while forest firefighters are constantly being stretched thin. Meanwhile, the head of our federal government, Mark Carney, who is supposedly a Liberal, has rolled back Trudeau-era climate targets and is proposing a new pipeline that would cost the taxpayers between $35 and $100 billion.
Climate change is real. We're in a climate crisis, and our government is ignoring it. Climate change is making our weather more severe and unpredictable. Canada is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world, and our arctic is warming at FOUR times the rest of the world, due to arctic amplification.
If you're still reading this, thank you. I am enraged, distraught, worried, and incredibly sad about this whole situation. I imagine a lot of you are too. Please, if you are Canadian, call or email your MP. It doesn't have to be the best written thing ever. I angrily emailed my MP last night. Follow 350.org and other climate groups who are lobbying for change. Sign petitions, support evacuation efforts, pressure our government into committing to climate targets and investing in green energy rather than more pipelines. If you're from Ontario, email your MPP. Email Doug Ford and tell him how unacceptable it is that he cut $40 million from the forest firefighters last year.
If you are Canadian and use this link, it will take you to a 350.org campaign and if you fill in your information, it will easily help you call your MP to let them know you don't want the Liberals to fast track environmental destruction in this country.
I know it's easy to feel like the government isn't listening, like signing petitions or emailing your representatives won't do anything. But it's all about repeated pressure and enough pressure. Small efforts do matter and can shape up into big changes - even if those small efforts are signing petitions or emailing your reps.
