Photo by Ian Kaufman

Students, politicians take to the streets for action

Ian Kaufman

Features Editor

In his seminal, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams suggested that the answer to “life, the universe, and everything” was 42. However, U.S. author and environmental activist, Bill McKibben, is emerging as a vocal critic of Adams’s contention, referring to 350 as “the most important number in the world”.

Why 350? It’s the highest safe concentration of carbon dioxide in our planet’s atmosphere, measured in parts per million, suggested by NASA climatologist James Hansen. Organizations and individuals around the world have grouped around 350 as a rallying point in the struggle for an adequate governmental response to climate change. Its supporters hope to see that target embraced at December’s international climate change conference in Copenhagen, which will determine a follow-up to the Kyoto Accord. Atmospheric concentration is currently approaching 390 ppm and, without restrictions, will continue to rise.

In what could turn out to be a galvanizing moment, an “international day of climate action” was organized last Saturday, comprising thousands of rallies in over 150 countries – one of the largest-ever global protests. Thunder Bay was not about to be left out, holding its own rally at Waverley Park in downtown Port Arthur. Organized by Alex Boulet, LUSU’s Sustainability Initiative Commissioner, the rally was attended by Thunder Bay’s two MPs and over a hundred community members.

The crowd was composed of a broad cross-section of the community – politicians, students, seniors, and canines turned out to show their support, while the weather cooperated to provide a rare sunny day.

After Boulet’s introductory remarks, climatologist Graham Saunders explained the gravity of the situation: “I liken this to our planet having a fever,” he said. Gaining two degrees Celsius is serious for planets as for humans, while four degrees is deadly. The 350ppm target is generally projected to halt global warming around two degrees (since the start of the industrial revolution). “We don’t want to see what happens with [a four-degree increase],” he warned.

Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Bruce Hyer, the NDP’s deputy environment critic, took the stage to speak about sustainability in the federal context. His proposed Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, would legislate an 80% cut in greenhouse gasses from 1990 levels by 2050, with %25 cut by 2020.

An earlier version of the bill (with the same targets) was already passed by the house, but the election of 2008 dissolved parliament before a senate vote could take place. The current version again passed first and second readings; only days before the rally, however, Conservative and Liberal MPs voted to delay third reading, allegedly to further study the bill.

Critics suggest the vote was designed to avoid legislation tying Canada to specific commitments before the Copenhagen climate conference. This leaves Canada “standing naked before the world with Stephen Harper’s terrible position on climate change,” in the vivid words of Jack Layton - an uncomfortable position in which to find oneself on a Danish December.

City Councillor and acting Mayor, Rebecca Johnson, painted a hopeful picture of Thunder Bay as a city developing environmental consciousness. When she began her career as a councillor, she said, there was very little concern over environmental activities. “Finally,” she says, “councillors are asking questions and looking for answers.”

Although rarely considered, the role of municipal governments in climate action is significant, she continued: over half of Canada’s emissions are under their control. She pointed to Thunder Bay’s newly minted Community Environmental Action Plan as evidence of the city’s emerging commitment to environmental issues.

The last to speak was John Cutfeet of the Wildlands League, who advises northern communities on mining issues. Cutfeet is a member and former councillor of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) first nation, located about 600km north of Thunder Bay. The KI nation has been embroiled in legal battles with Canadian mining company Platinex Inc. for several years over their resistance to the company’s mining operations on their territory. They fear the operation would devastate the surrounding environment.

“Indigenous Peoples throughout the world have watched resources being extracted from their territories, creating great wealth to others while we live on islands of poverty,” he told the crowd. “Science tells us that we as human beings are living beyond the carrying capacity of supporting eco-systems.” Last April, he attended the Indigenous People’s Global Summit on Climate Change in Alaska, which called for the eventual phasing out of fossil fuels.

Boulet referred to the Thunder Bay demonstration as “a modest but very beautiful success”. It concluded by borrowing the Ottawa rally’s vow to “fill the hill” with a march up to Hillcrest Park, looking out over the city to Sleeping Giant and Lake Superior. It’s worth noting that, modesty aside, Thunder Bay’s turnout matched that of the nation’s capital, proportionally at least - a sign that Johnson’s hopefulness may be justified.