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Our Climate Choice

By
Feb. 22, 2013 2 min. read

I boarded a jet plane this past Friday and traveled 16 hours through the night to Washington, DC. I was back on a plane again on Monday morning flying the reverse 16 hours back home.  

I was in Washington for the Forward on Climate rally, to call on President Obama to say “no” to the KXL pipeline. 

The journey was long and on the way there I read Tim Flannery’s Now or Never, an inspiring (short) read on the state of the planet in the face of climate change. On the way back I was too exhausted to read or do anything productive, so I watched b-movies and contemplated my experience at the largest climate rally in US history.  

 
I thought about the KXL pipeline and what it represents at this moment in American/Canadian history.  I thought about all of the concerns over the pipeline on both sides. I thought about solutions to climate disruption – solutions that won't slow our economy or stop commerce, green energy soluions like the advanced carbon-neutral biofuels that should be fueling my jet travel. I thought about how many people are crying out that we need the pipeline for economic stimulation and for job creation. I thought about the hard working citizens who feed their children through oil related jobs.  
 
And…I couldn’t help but wonder….
 
If oil workers could choose, would they choose to work in toxic environments with damaging chemicals, or would they choose to work surrounded by clean air?
 
If Americans could choose, would they choose to work on the infrastructure for cancer-causing oil power or would they choose to work on the infrastructure for health reviving wind power?
 
If Canadians could choose, would they choose to dig up their forests, leaving behind barren and filthy wastelands, or would they choose to harvest the sun’s rays and leave behind a legacy for their children?
 
If people had a choice, what would that choice be?
 
My reflections on climate choice were abruptly interrupted by the ever more sobering understanding that, right now, so many citizens of our free, democratic nations have no choice.  They go to work in the dirty energy sector for lack of a better alternative.
 
There are jobs to be created on both sides of the climate argument.  Whether we are investing in oil or sun, coal or wind, gas or algae, the economy will be stimulated by the investment.  The economy, unlike each of us, is not swayed by ideology.  
 
So, by the time I touched down at home, I had but one, echoing thought in my mind, one aching plea for the leaders of our “free world”:  Please… ask not the people if they want to work, but ask the people what they want to work towards.  
 
Even slaves have jobs. A free man should have choice.

Threats to our environment are often hidden from public view.
So we embarked on a little experiment at The Narwhal: letting our investigative journalists loose to file as many freedom of information requests as their hearts desired.

In just six months, they filed a whopping 233 requests — and with those, they unearthed a veritable mountain of government documents to share with readers across Canada.

But the reality is this kind of digging takes lots of time and no small amount of money.

As many newsrooms cut staff, The Narwhal has doubled down on hiring reporters to do hard-hitting journalism — and we do it all as an independent, non-profit news organization that doesn’t run any advertising.

Will you join the growing chorus of readers who have stepped up to hold the powerful accountable?
I SUPPORT INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Threats to our environment are often hidden from public view.
So we embarked on a little experiment at The Narwhal: letting our investigative journalists loose to file as many freedom of information requests as their hearts desired.

In just six months, they filed a whopping 233 requests — and with those, they unearthed a veritable mountain of government documents to share with readers across Canada.

But the reality is this kind of digging takes lots of time and no small amount of money.

As many newsrooms cut staff, The Narwhal has doubled down on hiring reporters to do hard-hitting journalism — and we do it all as an independent, non-profit news organization that doesn’t run any advertising.

Will you join the growing chorus of readers who have stepped up to hold the powerful accountable?
I SUPPORT INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

Published By
Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Kate Austen in the television series "Lost." ...

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As The Narwhal turns five, I’m thinking about the momentous outpouring of public generosity — a miracle of sorts — that’s allowed us to prove the critics wrong. More than 6,000 people just like you donate whatever they can afford to make independent, high-stakes journalism about the natural world in Canada free for everyone to read. Help us keep the dream alive for another five years by becoming a member today and we’ll mail you a copy of our beautiful 2023 print magazine. — Carol Linnitt, co-founder
Keep the dream alive.
$15/month
$5/month
Other