On October 19, British Columbia voters can choose between three approaches to climate change. Actually, there may be only two choices. NDP and Conservative websites make no mention of climate actions they would institute if victorious in the October election. The BC Green website provides specific policy information about the subject.
BC Greens propose:
- Providing funding for community-level climate adaptation initiatives like dyke repair, cooling centres and building climate-proof housing,
- Investing in our local agriculture to foster innovation and incentivize local food production,
- Creating jobs in watershed restoration, monitoring, technology, training and education,
- Immediately ending funding to fossil fuel companies and implementing a ban on fracking.
Premier David Eby said his government is a leader in climate action and is ramping up efforts to address the growing threats of a changing climate. However, in recent news reports, Eby promised to eliminate BC’s provincial carbon tax if federal Conservatives end the federal carbon tax.
Perhaps Eby meant to say his government is ramping down efforts to address the growing threats of a changing climate.
The province that describes itself as a leader in climate action has watched natural gas production rise by 56 percent since the NDP took power in 2017. Fossil fuel producers were helped when the NDP government eliminated monthly auctions of natural gas and petroleum rights. Those regular sales had the industry adding hundreds of millions to billions of dollars to the provincial treasury every year.
The Conservative Party of BC doesn’t promise any climate actions. Denier-in-chief John Rustad says, “It is not a crisis. It is not an existential threat.”
Almost all climate scientists disagree with Rustad.
There is near-universal consensus (97–99.9%) in the peer-reviewed scientific literature that the climate is changing as a result of human activity… Beyond the consensus on the reality of human-caused climate change, climate experts emphasize very high certainty of the adverse consequences of climate change and the urgency of climate action to curb these impacts in the Sixth IPCC report.
It is not hard to find online examples of climate change denial. It comes from right-wing sources like the Fraser Institute, which promoted research funded by the tobacco industry saying, unsurprisingly, that the harmful effects of smoking were exaggerated. Currently, the industry funded mouthpiece says the harmful effects of climate change are exaggerated.
Of course, it is easy to find online examples of climate change warnings. These come mostly from credible scientific sources.
Norwegian researchers have calculated that 70 per cent of the world’s population will experience a strong increase in peak temperatures or intense rainfall over the next 20 years, if greenhouse gas emissions increase significantly.
Such a drastic change in temperature and rain almost never happened in a climate without human-made climate change, according to the new study conducted by CICERO, the Center for International Climate Research.
The changes in the next 20 years will be far beyond what has been normal and will be ‘unprecedented,’ according to the study.
Categories: Climate Change
in-sights.ca 
Not to mention the opioid crisis, the housing crisis, infrastructure degradation, healthcare teetering on the edge… Cons want to go back to the Clark/Harper régime, Dippers want to nibble around the edges to look good, and it seems to be that the tiny Green caucus is the only source of any reasonable thought on any of the pressing issues confronting us all. Sad that there is so much disgruntlement that seems to express itself is a sense that things will be better with a trucker-convoy government. Sad that we have a media set content to bypass substantive discussion of the issues for horse race prognostication and cheerleading for the status quo, sad that Adam Olson is off to greener pastures, sad that Andrew Weaver has shown himself to be a one-issue blowhard, sad that Sonja Furstenau’s thoughtful and accurate perceptions are sold short and largely ignored. And also sad that In-Sights and like sources are consigned largely to directing the choir of those who have decided to sit up and pay attention to what looks, increasingly, like the demise of civilization.
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Oh, the “Eye” is voting Green because of the many years watching the politcal scene in BC, I do not see much difference between the NDP and the now BC Conservative Party. The only difference between the two is their base, with everything else a mere side show.The much hated Carbon Tax in BC was nothing more than a cleverly disguised revenue generator by the Campbell Liberals, to recoup the revenue lost with their large tax cuts for the wealthy.Today the Carbon Tax is a mere placebo for government that is not doing anything to mitigate global warming, pretending it is.What must be done is not being done. There is no politcal will for what needs to be done, absolutely none.So I will vote Green more as a protest anything else as both Eby and Rustad are paving our way to environmental hell.
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I’m finally ready to abandon the NDP centrism and vote green. I may well be throwing away my vote in a “safe riding”. I don’t care, I have to go with my conscience.
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Here in BC Greens are doomed to extinction .
Sonia Furstenau maybe a good speaker but she and her , well meaning party, have little or nothing to offer .
They lack pragmatism and most of all good candidates.
Sonia has almost certainly signed her own failure by moving and running in a strong NDP riding; a show of political immaturity!
Other Greens on Vancouver Island offer no more than potters wheels and a dry toilet at the bottom of the garden to solve our ills.
The BC Greens need a German Green approach of pragmatic community involvement .
TB
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Anyone who has spent time talking face to face with Ms. Furstenau will not conclude she has little or nothing to offer. I am certain that she and Adam Olsen were among the most effective MLAs in the Legislature since 2017.
Two months ago, the Representative for Children and Youth issued a report that was highly critical of Grace Lore’s Ministry. She has failed as a Cabinet Minister and is quite likely to lose Victoria-Beacon Hill since she is now matched against the best MLA in the Legislature.
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Have you ever seen or heard anyone of any political leaning that made a success of the Ministry of children etc?
Success in that post would lead to world wide recognition and adoration!
Alas the recipients of the labours of that ministry are not a voting group of major influence!
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In the upcoming BC election I will hold my nose and vote NDP.
The election is set to become a tight race mainly due to changing demographics; the influx of Alberta retirees etc to Nanaimo.
The Green candidate who I never heard of before would seem to have little political experience or lifetime skills.
That said ,you are correct Norm, in that The BC Greens are the only ones talking about the environment.
However a Rustad government here in BC would result in environmental disaster.
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