Do you think of Canada as being a hot country? I never have, but as I type this some Canadians are experiencing record-breaking temperatures as high as 47.9ºC. The Guardian reported:
"Officers said they had redeployed dozens of officers and asked the public to call 911 only for emergencies because heat-related deaths had depleted frontline resources and delayed response times.
“Vancouver has never experienced heat like this, and sadly dozens of people are dying because of it,” Sgt Steve Addison said in a news release. “Our officers are stretched thin, but we’re still doing everything we can to keep people safe.”
In addition to the death toll, there are reports of buckled roads, blackouts, and wildfires. Remarkably, the same article reports Joe Biden as saying that this is due to climate change! Good to see he has cottoned on to this but what is he doing about it? Sadly the answer is very little. Biden has an 'infrastructure plan' which is nowhere good enough to deal with the climate crisis. Is not the kind of green new deal the USA needs to avoid ever more extreme weather events and the damage they will cause to human life and the environment we depend upon.
But Biden isn't the only global leader not doing enough on climate - none of the others are, and as we know fossil fuels are still receiving massive government subsidies globally. A report by the EU in 2019 found that the biggest subsidies for fossil fuels were in the UK at £10.5 billion p.a. In addition, we know that the real culprits, the fossil fuel corporations, have been lying about the impact on the climate of fossil fuels for decades.
As if this weren't bad enough we are still depleting the natural environment and destroying biodiversity at an alarming rate. Governments are paying lip service to protect wildlife. In the UK a report by the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee found that more money is being spent destroying the environment than protecting it and described the UK government's approach as 'toothless'.
So, we are in a covid crisis and a climate crisis. Both these things are linked and the situation can only get worse. In November 2021 the next UN climate change conference - COP 26 - will be held in Glasgow. What can we expect? If previous conferences are a guide, we can expect a lot of hot air and very little real action. So what can we do?
We have to keep protesting and putting pressure on governments. One way of doing this is supporting organisations like Extinction Rebellion, but at a local level, we need to be setting up grassroots community groups that can provide solidarity, and mutual aid to build resilience in local communities. There are already many such organisations in the UK doing good work by being involved in projects such as growing local food, food coops, building economic democracy, retrofitting homes for energy efficiency, energy coops and rewilding. Some of these groups were set up in response to the covid crisis but they will be needed to aid our response to the climate crisis. Get involved - now!
