If we paid more attention to impacts of climate change, we would demand our governments take immediate and effective action, not offer promises that solutions will somehow be in place by 2050. Warning signs are plentiful in 2023. NASA reports that current warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years. The scientific agency says evidence of rapid climate change is compelling…

A key element of Canada’s future climate policy is carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). The federal government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to advance the commercial viability of CCUS technologies. Despite what critics say about CCUS, it is working as intended for fossil fuel producers. CCUS is not a solution, it is a distraction. The aim is to justify ‘continued production of carbon rich energy.

Eliminating methane emissions offers huge potential for quick, affordable climate action. Modern technology makes identification of leakage relatively simple, but industry and governments are dedicated to increased fossil fuel production. As a result, methane leakage is consciously underreported and methane abatement actions are not taken.

The UK’s Royal Meteorological Society wrote about the deadly heatwave that affected western North America in 2021. An underlying message was to prepare for more disasters like the destruction of Lytton, BC. This might happen even if governments get truly serious about climate change, an unlikely scenario even as death and destruction mounts.

Substance use disorder (SUD) affects human’ brains and behaviors, leading to uncontrolled use of substances. Symptoms can be moderate to severe. For individuals, this might involve drugs or alcohol. For industrialized societies, it certainly involves fossil fuels.

University of Manchester’s Dr. Kevin Anderson is a visiting researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at Sweden’s Uppsala University. Anderson warns that continuing on our current path will result in a catastrophic outcome due to climate change. He cautions against believing the political rhetoric about progress and says the concept of NET-ZERO really means NOT-ZERO. He believes the commonly used expression is cover for an unacceptable plan to kick the can down the road.

New York Times science writer David Wallace-Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth, issues a weekly newsletter for subscribers. The August 2 edition is a powerful and disturbing look at the future.

— Climate change denial is based on prioritizing consumerism and wealth accumulation over human health and survival.
— Climate change indifference is based on false hope, inattention, or ignorance.
— Climate change concern is based on altruism and science.

Governments responsible for regulation of fossil fuels are also promoters of its production and consumption. British Columbia has committed billions of dollars to encourage liquified fossil gas and has extended subsidies by way of royalty credits worth over $15 billion in today’s dollars. Government’s commitment to growing the fossil fuel industry is in direct conflict with its role as protector of the public and the environment using fair and neutral regulation of a dangerous industry. Measuring escaped emissions of methane would make it impossible to meet political promises of emissions reductions for the oil and gas industry. So, it is not a priority.

A Conference of the Parties (COP) is held regularly to assess the effects of the measures taken by Parties and the progress made in dealing with climate change. Dubai, most populated city of the world’s seventh largest oil producer, will host COP27 in December 2023. Leaders of the top five oil producers — USA, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, Iraq — are already planning to speak at COP37.

Most Canadian politicians are blithe to climate science. The federal government is building or assisting construction of fossil fuel pipelines worth $45 billion. In the last few days, BC Premier David Eby joined Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at a Vancouver conference promoting production and consumption of fossil gas.

Individuals in government, industry, and media stand in the way of actions to protect humanity from climate change. It is time to treat them as criminals, and to treat defenders of life as heroes.

As climate disasters become more common, motivations to address underlying causes will decline as the general public accepts them as normal. Add the normal inclination to diminish gradually deteriorating situations and we are unlikely to save humanity from extinction.