Trudeau can't charm his way around math.
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 11 October 2016 14:00
- Written by editor
Dear Friends,
Sometimes there’s a new fact in the world, and today is one of those days. It’s a grim fact, but a powerful one that will undergird our work together for years to come.
In late September, our friends at Oil Change International released a new report, which recalculates the basic math about climate change. Here’s my story about it in the New Republic. The basic gist is this: oil and gas fields and coal mines already in production contain enough carbon to carry us past the two degree mark.
That is to say, if we’re even remotely serious about stopping runaway climate change we can’t build any new fossil fuel infrastructure anywhere. The frontier of the fossil fuel industry, which has been expanding for three centuries, must be closed. Now.This is not ideology.... It’s just simple math.
And yet, the Canadian Prime Minister doesn’t seem to get it. He just approved a massive new fracked gas export project, and he’s repeatedly hinted that he wants to approve the Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline this December.
This refusal to “do the math” on Trudeau’s part makes the work of the climate movement that much more important. It’s why in a few weeks, youth and students from across Canada are headed to Ottawa to give the Prime Minister a “Climate 101” crash course.
This new climate math is hard news. We all wish we had decades more to make a slow, easy transition. But as I wrote this summer, we could actually make the switch to sun and wind, if we mobilized with the same resolve that we met the challenge of fascism in World War II. This new data shows we have to make that switch right now.
I know it’s a strange moment. There’s a wild election underway in the US, and a dozen crucial fights taking place across the whole planet. But I think that, even as we build our movement, it’s crucial that we make sure we know exactly where we stand. So thank you for reading this, and thank you for being a part of this big, broad, beautiful movement.
The fact that you’re out there working is what gives me the courage to face these new numbers.
With respect,
Bill McKibben
P.S. Click here to read my piece in the National Observer about what this new math means for Canada. I’m not asking you to do anything with this new article, except to read it, and to share it on Facebook and on Twitter and via whatever means you use to communicate with the world. (You could also send it to your elected officials).
350.org is building a global climate movement. You can connect with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and r38
