At an Extinction Rebellion protest on Vancouver Island held on Nov 20th, David Suzuki warned that if our leaders don’t pay attention to what’s going on [with respect to our environment], pipelines will be blown up.
This begs the question: what is the actual emergency?
It seems to me that extreme environmental activism poses an existential threat more imminent and far greater than any threat of climate change purported by politicians or ‘experts.'
While I agree with and support environmentalism as a cause that needs to be at the forefront of everyone’s consciousness, there exist strategies that will prove constructive and fruitful; extremism and threats of violence, however, are not among them.
We are unfortunately inundated by noise from the mainstream media whose unabashed use of drama, hysteria, and fear-mongering obstructs the truth and feeds a narrative rooted in emotion over fact.
To further exacerbate the problem, we have un-educated and ill-informed politicians who are out of touch with scientific reality ‘leading’ the fight on climate change.
For each of us ordinary citizens, I propose a long-term three-fold solution of self-education, individual commitment as an environmental steward, and support of those in politics who are committed to consulting non-partisan subject matter experts whose research is driven by real science without ulterior motive or hidden agenda.
I believe we need to maintain diligent criticism of mainstream rhetoric and consider the work of non-partisan researchers, thinkers, and journalists for strategies as to the way forward.
In closing, a plea to all of us: to avoid division and preserve a unified society, can we take it upon ourselves to embrace the responsibility of regular civil discourse and exercise a robust tolerance for cognitive dissonance?
Let us band together in the lifelong pursuit of truth through collective and un-restrained sharing of thoughts, knowledge, and ideas.
Stephen Clarke
Brackendale
