Hope is one of the traditional themes of the holiday season.
The critical importance of hope for all humankind is something I think about often - particularly through
the prism of what is the most central challenge of our age - climate change.
The scale and potential impacts of the climate crisis are daunting - and can be overwhelming. But when
hopelessness becomes an overarching emotion, the resulting apathy and paralysis can make the
situation even more difficult and threatening. “Climate doom is the new climate denial,” it’s been said,
because both lead to inaction.
Harvard University’s Mary Franck writes, “Climate optimism isn’t about denying what we can see with
our own eyes or ignoring our grief for what we’ve lost. It’s understanding that we know how to prevent
things from getting worse and that we’re making progress.”
Promise and progress
I firmly believe that there are available pathways for limiting climate and biodiversity damage. The
critical question is our level of collective commitment to travelling down these paths as rapidly as
science demands.
I do see important progress. This progress sustains me and acts as a counterbalance to being overcome
by the immensity of the gap between where we are and what we need to achieve.
In the spirit of the season, what follows are just a few of the many reasons why I personally remain very
hopeful about the fight against climate change. Perhaps they might help fuel your optimism as well:
Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, economic growth has been very much tied to
increasing carbon emissions. The historic link between rising prosperity and carbon emissions
has, recently, been broken. Some 33 countries in recent years have seen a major decoupling of
emissions from economic growth.
There is an increasingly serious focus on the part of world leaders to taking urgent climate action.
Today, more than 90 percent of the world’s GDP and over 80 percent of global emissions are now
governed by net-zero pledges of various kinds, each promising to embark upon massive
decarbonization at historically unprecedented speeds - of course, follow-through is key.
As science - and extreme weather events - become ever more clear and present, public
commitment to climate action has become the norm in Canada, such that I think it unlikely any
political party lacking a credible climate plan can be elected at the federal level.
We are seeing an exponential growth in recent years of ever cheaper and more effective
renewable and non-emitting sources of energy. Wind and solar now make up 75% of global
electricity capacity growth, while coal has fallen to just 4%, according to BloombergNEF
Research.
The energy transition presents unbounded economic opportunity. A recent report published by
the International Energy Agency found that more people are now employed in clean energy
than fossil fuel-related industries. Work by others, such as Clean Energy Canada, points to
significant job creation and economic growth if we seize the economic opportunities available in
the transition to a low-carbon future.
Indigenous communities, cities and towns are taking energy and climate issues into their own
hands and demonstrating real leadership.
The energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine is dramatically accelerating the switch to clean
energy – particularly in western Europe.
Brazil’s new president has promised to save the Amazon and has formed an alliance of nations
that are home to the largest rainforests to prevent deforestation.
And perhaps most of all, my sense of hope remains vital and alive because climate activism is
thriving around the world - and it is our youth (very much including my youngest daughter) who
are at the forefront.
There are very tangible reasons to be hopeful about climate change as 2022 comes to a close. Let us use
that hope to redouble our efforts to address the climate crisis and to ensure a successful transition to a
prosperous low-carbon future.
With that, I want to wish all North Vancouverites a very happy – and reflective – Holiday Season.