"the reliability of the U.S. ... has collapsed" - David Suzuki

I had trouble formatting this page. It's probably best to read it as the original web page - click below.

 To view this email as a web page, click here

Photo: Anastasiya Dalenka via Unsplash Trade turmoil shows need for new internationalism Since the April federal election, Canada has found itself in unchartered terrain.  The United States–instigated  trade war against long-standing allies rages on,  as do its extreme deregulation and increasing  attacks on digital infrastructure, data and communication systems that protect the public interest and  monitor implementation and respect for the rule  of law. The consequent risks to energy, food, water and human security in Canada have led to a regrettable resurgence of political interest in,  and support for, fossil fuel pipeline construction throughout  the country, and in finding new trade partners for Canada’s  polluting fossil fuels. This archaic response in the context of the climate crisis would  decimate public health and ecosystems and go against the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and  International Energy Agency’s scientific recommendations  while locking Canada into stranded assets, further  expanding the immense economic, social, environmental  and cultural costs of fossil fuel exploitation. The reliability of the U.S. as a trade partner, as well  as its trustworthiness as a member of the international  community, has collapsed. A more prosperous approach would be to use this historical  moment of disruption to strengthen coherence between trade  and environmental agreements and propel implementation  of global commitments under the Pact for the Future,  Paris Agreement, Global Biodiversity Framework and  other co-operative mechanisms that support  evidence-based and scientifically informed approaches  to sustainable development. While the U.S. is busy dismantling its environmental laws  and the federal agencies tasked to protect public and  environmental health, Canada’s government needs to  acknowledge that expanding trade with the U.S.  will undermine environmental and public health  protection across borders. Canada should ensure  that all our future trade agreements integrate  fundamental environmental standards, including  the precautionary and polluter pays principles and  intergenerational equity. With a review of the Canada–U.S.–Mexico trade agreement  approaching, some have suggested that Mexico and Canada  should each pursue bilateral agreements with the U.S. But  this would further empower the U.S. and go against the two  other countries’ interests. The reliability of the U.S. as a trade  partner, as well as its trustworthiness as a member of the  international community, has collapsed. Pursuing trade  relations with a rogue superpower such as the U.S. will  substantially weaken Canada’s national resilience to  systemic shocks. Canada’s renewed trade policy should prioritize economic justice and environmental sustainability by adhering to forward-thinking guiding principles. But it does present a historic opportunity. Rather than launching a regressive nationalism based on reinvesting in a deceptive and declining boom-and-bust fossil fuel industry that has unfairly profited off the struggling working class to the benefit of its executives and shareholders, Canada must strengthen relations with long-standing and new trade partners — the European Union and Mexico as well as the Global South and emerging economies. The wealth embedded in this approach is immense: new renewable energy markets, stronger domestic industries and a leading role in a global economy rooted in environmental justice and co-operation. By aligning its trade approach with the aim of reforming global economic structures to promote equitable development and reduce global disparities, Canada can forge a flourishing and just trade policy. Canada’s renewed trade policy should prioritize economic justice and environmental sustainability by adhering to forward-thinking guiding principles. These include respecting Indigenous sovereignty, reinvesting wealth in local and Indigenous economies and eliminating tariffs on environmental goods and services. New trade agreements should define and phase out harmful fossil fuel subsidies to eliminate market distortions that favour carbon-intensive sectors, promote eco-labelling and implement periodic environmental impact assessments. Canada has a unique opportunity to reclaim its leadership on the global stage. A renewed trade approach should also emphasize transparency, public participation and inclusive governance in trade negotiations, allowing for meaningful participation of civil society groups and Indigenous rights-holders. This approach should support lifting trade barriers on green technologies, advancing climate change adaptation and collaborating with developing nations in sustainable trade. It should further promote environmental justice, workers’ rights in informal economies and ethical supply chains that respect human rights and environmental protections. As the world faces new challenges from the U.S.’s growing trade isolationism and attacks on domestic, regional and international rules of law, Canada has a unique opportunity to reclaim its leadership on the global stage. By embracing a new internationalism, Canada can strengthen its alliances with like-minded nations and set pathways for multilateralism and trade embedded in the protection of fundamental rights, including environmental human rights. This will not only reassert Canada’s historical role as a bridge-builder on the international stage but also enable us to lead in shaping a fairer, more cooperative world order amid shifting geopolitical dynamics. By David Suzuki, with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Quebec and Atlantic Canada Director General Sabaa Khan Read Online Share this story! Support the David Suzuki Foundation Your gift will help push for bold climate action, protect nature so it can sustain all life and create resilient communities that benefit everyone. Donate Today The David Suzuki Foundation is a registered charity in both Canada (BN 127756716RR0001) and the United States (94-3204049). We are located at 340-1122 Mainland Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6B 5L1, and we also have offices in Montreal and Toronto. Please visit our website for more information on how to contact us.

 

Canada Should Be the Envy of the World (David Suzuki Foundation)

Canada is not an economic basket case In 1987, Canada was caught up in a debate over a free trade agreement with the United States. Economist John Crispo, an outspoken FTA supporter, warned that failing to ratify it would make Canada an “economic basket case.” In 1988, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney called an election to get a mandate to sign onto the agreement. The Liberals and NDP opposed it, but the Conservatives won a majority with 40 per cent of the vote. The U.S. and Canada ratified the FTA later that year. A subsequent 1994 free trade agreement included Mexico. In early 1988, before the election, I met eminent economist Kenneth Boulding at a meeting in the U.S. With Crispo’s words still bugging me, I asked about Canada becoming an economic basket case if we didn’t sign on and for his opinion of the FTA.

Canada is a nation rich in resources and skilled and educated people with a diversity of backgrounds and ideas and should be the envy of the world.

Boulding answered, “If you want to know how well off you are, imagine that you go to bed and wake up the next morning to find the whole world has disappeared except for Canada and an ocean around it. Would you lack for food? Not when you are one of the bread baskets, not basket cases, of the world. Would you lack for resources — minerals, energy, lumber, fish? Would you lack an educated workforce capable of making everything from clothing to refrigerators and cars?” That thought exercise reminds us of our true wealth. Canada is a nation rich in resources and skilled and educated people with a diversity of backgrounds and ideas and should be the envy of the world. But globalization renders us vulnerable to the consequences of war, hostilities and shifts in priorities and makes us poor — even though its initial justification was to reduce the kinds of conflicts the world had just endured in two global wars. I later heard Larry King interview Mulroney on CNN. King chided him for the economic slump Canada was experiencing. Mulroney replied that it wasn’t his fault, that he couldn’t control the global economy. So why do we embrace the global economy? The prime minister’s job is to protect people in Canada and our economy, not hand over control to global forces.

We need global alliances, now more than ever, but we must also become more self-reliant.

Donald Trump’s election and subsequent actions reveal how vulnerable we are to the vagaries of an unruly leader who couldn’t care less for the wellbeing of people or the state of the planet. His administration during its first term negotiated the most recent North American free trade pact, the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. Now he’s tearing that up, recklessly imposing tariffs, then backing off and re-imposing them — sending stock markets spinning and creating economic hardship beyond U.S. borders. We need global alliances, now more than ever, but we must also become more self-reliant. We need to reduce barriers to interprovincial trade and create an integrated renewable energy grid. Our governments must prioritize Indigenous rights, title and governance. We need to make sure our communities are resilient in the face of a warming climate, and we must protect our natural wealth, especially water. Any trade agreements we join must prioritize human and environmental rights. The billionaires and oligarchs who benefit most from global trade don’t care about countries or borders; those get in their way as much as regulations and public institutions. Their consumer-capitalist economic system facilitates and relies on global trade — in part to exploit low-cost labour and lax environmental and human rights standards.

We need to learn from it and come together to protect what we have while continuing to strive for better.

Current trade also exacerbates the climate crisis. About 40 per cent of global shipping is to transport coal, oil and gas. As Forbes reports, “Shipping emits over 1 billion tons of carbon a year, making it the sixth-largest emitter in the world after China, U.S., India, Russia and Japan” — and that’s increasing rapidly. Curtailing fossil fuel use would substantially reduce emissions from burning the fuels and from shipping, a win-win for the climate. But it would cut into enormous industry profits and, according to current economic thinking, profits are a higher priority than health and survival. What’s happening in the U.S. shows how quickly things can fall apart — rules and institutions, checks and balances, international agreements, governing processes that people have long taken for granted. We need to learn from it and come together to protect what we have while continuing to strive for better.

By David Suzuki, with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor and Writer Ian Hanington

Read Online

Share this story!

Support the David Suzuki Foundation Your gift will help push for bold climate action, protect nature so it can sustain all life and create resilient communities that benefit everyone. Donate Today

This email was sent to zenriver@sympatico.ca. To configure which emails we send you, please manage your content preferences here. If you no longer wish to receive any email from the David Suzuki Foundation, you can unsubscribe at any time. The David Suzuki Foundation is a registered charity in both Canada (BN 127756716RR0001) and the United States (94-3204049). We are located at 340-1122 Mainland Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6B 5L1, and we also have offices in Montreal and Toronto. Please visit our website for more information on how to contact us.

 

People Have the Power! David Suzuki

 email from David Suzuki and his Foundation today:

We can all take part in the great transformation 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. Industry has also stoked fears that the necessary transition to cleaner energy will cause job losses and economic hardship. 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! 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. 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. People have the power, though. We just have to choose to use it. Apathy is the enemy. 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! By David Suzuki, with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor and Writer Ian Hanington Read Online Share this story! Support the David Suzuki Foundation Your gift will help push for bold climate action, protect nature so it can sustain all life and create resilient communities that benefit everyone. Donate Today This email was sent to zenriver@sympatico.ca. To configure which emails we send you, please manage your content preferences here. If you no longer wish to receive any email from the David Suzuki Foundation, you can unsubscribe at any time. The David Suzuki Foundation is a registered charity in both Canada (BN 127756716RR0001) and the United States (94-3204049). We are located at 340-1122 Mainland Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6B 5L1, and we also have offices in Montreal and Toronto. Please visit our website for more information on how to contact us.