MEDIA RELEASE: Pope Francis’ visit an opportunity to catalyze non-partisan conversations on carbon pricing

MEDIA RELEASE: Pope Francis’ visit an opportunity to catalyze non-partisan conversations on carbon pricing

Pope Francis’ visit an opportunity to catalyze non-partisan conversations on carbon pricing

The Pope’s appearance before the US Congress and the United Nations should be viewed as an opportunity to begin earnest conversations about carbon pricing across the continent.

Canada is currently in the midst of a Federal Election. Regardless of who wins the election, the climate crisis urgently requires cross-party cooperation because the current plans of the three big federal parties all lack details and/or effectiveness.

One of those worst-case scenarios of the climate crisis is the displacement of millions of people throughout the world as water and food shortages create instability and force people to make desperate migrations. The tragic plight of migrants currently seeking refuge in Mediterranean countries is a foretaste of what lies ahead as conditions worsen.

Our current business-as-usual pace of burning fossil fuels places us on a trajectory of warming that ensures the current nightmare of the migrant crisis will grow to unimaginable proportions. To avoid that bleak scenario, the world must drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is the aim of the Paris accord. Canada is not doing its part. In fact, Canada has currently committed do less than the USA in cutting our domestic greenhouse gas emissions, breaking a two-decades-long tradition of setting matching greenhouse gas reduction targets with the United States.

When Pope Francis speaks before a joint session of Congress later this month, he will carry with him the hopes and prayers of people everywhere that humanity will finally take the steps necessary to secure a livable world for future generations.

Read the full media release: CCLCanada EditorialPacketPopeFrancisSept2015.

Cathy Orlando has put her words to work for the climate by getting letters and opinion pieces published in newspapers in every province in Canada. When she’s not safeguarding the climate alongside the best volunteers on the planet, you can probably find her stargazing, dancing, reading books not about climate change, hanging out with her husband Sanjiv, and mothering her three cherished daughters.