By David Suzuki
The odds are stacked against people standing up for the planet’s interconnected life-support systems. We don’t have the wealth of billionaires, oligarchs and industrialists or their armies of lobbyists. We don’t have their massive resources, connections and influence over news media, politicians and governments.
We’re also overwhelmed by public apathy, fuelled by mis- and disinformation, distraction and fear.
Many people understandably believe the fossil fuel industry’s relentless public relations campaigns. For decades, the sector has lied about evidence even its own scientists confirmed: that burning oil, gas and coal traps solar radiation under a blanket of emissions, heating the planet at accelerating rates.
The results are unfolding as predicted, often faster. Weather events have become more unpredictable and extreme, with increasingly intense and frequent storms and storm surges, droughts, floods and heat domes. This fuels massive wildfires, harms agriculture, displaces people and animals, overwhelms infrastructure, raises sea levels, destroys homes and buildings, melts glaciers, dries up waterways and creates water shortages. If we keep heating the planet at this rate, we’ll likely alter or collapse important oceanic and atmospheric systems such as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and jet streams — with calamitous consequences.
Industry has also stoked fears that the necessary transition to cleaner energy will cause job losses and economic hardship. No matter how quickly renewable energy and storage technologies improve and prices drop, industry spends billions to convince us that fossil fuels are necessary and solutions unrealistic. For corporate executives and investors, profit trumps everything, including survival.
It’s more challenging to get the truth across — that conservation, efficiency and renewable energy not only create jobs, better working conditions and economic opportunities, but also cleaner air, water and land and improved human health. They also keep the planet from overheating!
Many people don’t think much at all about industry, politics, economics or the climate and biodiversity crises. Who can blame them? Times are crazy, with growing polarization, political turmoil and wars. And many people are struggling to make ends meet. It’s no wonder they bury themselves under distractions, from consuming drugs and alcohol to scrolling incessantly on devices to buying stuff they don’t need.
It’s all designed to give a small number of people power over the rest of us, so they can continue to enrich themselves and their families and friends. Government — the instrument they use to maintain the status quo and impose rules and regulations that benefit them — should represent the people and our interests, not deceive us or lull us into complacency for the benefit of plutocrats and polluting industries.
Even in democratic countries where freedom of speech and the right to protest have long been important facets of society, governments are enacting laws to restrict nonviolent protests and are cracking down on those who stand against destructive industries for planetary health and the future of humanity.
In one disturbing but not isolated example, a British undercover cop seduced and fathered a child with an environmental activist, then vanished when his assignment ended. He was later awarded an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) and went on to hold a number of prestigious positions. In Britain, the U.S. and elsewhere, peaceful protesters face lengthy jail sentences for trying to stop the destruction — which human rights advocates say potentially violates international law.
In Canada, governments have sent soldiers and militarized police to attack land defenders from Wet’suwet’en territory in B.C to Kanehsatà:ke and Kahnawà:ke in Quebec.
As the Guardian reports, “The crackdown against activists has intensified amid increasing death and destruction from extreme heat, floods, drought and sea level rise, with mounting evidence of collusion between corporate lobbyists, lawmakers and state security forces.”
It’s worse under openly repressive regimes, where activists are often murdered.
People have the power, though. We just have to choose to use it. Apathy is the enemy. We can stand with land defenders, march with climate strikers, write letters, sign petitions, attend local government meetings, get active in politics, learn, vote, dance, have conversations with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues, make positive changes in our own lives and spread some good energy.
Those bent on destroying nature may have wealth and power, but we have numbers and we have truth and love, the most important forces of all!
David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with David Suzuki Foundation Senior Writer and Editor Ian Hanington.
Learn more at davidsuzuki.org.
