Council can’t ignore climate emergency

To declare or not to declare a climate emergency. This is a huge question facing our city council. One must also ask, why has our Kelowna city council not declared a climate emergency already.

After all, many cities across Canada, and all over the world have done so.

Perhaps our city council sees no such emergency, and that we, as a community, can continue to do business as usual, ignoring the cliff that our planet is hurtling toward.

Perhaps our city council sees no such need to put on a display of “municipal drama” as can be the case when a city declares a climate emergency for appearances only. The thinking being, “Yes, we agree that there is a climate emergency; however, we lack the will to really do anything substantive about it, so we will just declare an emergency and give ourselves a pat on the back.”

Whatever the reason for not declaring a climate emergency has become a moot point. Unfortunately, time has run out for any climate-sincere politicians to sit on the fence when it comes to this issue.

Our climate is changing and will continue to do so, whatever behavioural changes we make as a community.

What we do next will decide how terrible things really get for our future generations (by future generations I mean the children you see today when you drive past a grade school playground).

In the not-so-distant future, their world will be vastly different than the one we have enjoyed. More floods, more fires, more severe weather, and an exodus of climate refugees from parts of the earth that become uninhabitable.

Our city has made some positive progress on the climate file, but it is past time for council to declare a climate emergency. Such a declaration entails looking at each municipal policy and decision through a climate change lens. Does the policy or action reduce or increase greenhouse gas emissions? Does the policy or action help prepare us for and mitigate future extreme weather events?

As a community, we must ask ourselves who are our climate-sincere politicians. If the current council is unwilling to acknowledge the climate emergency, instead believing that they can self-isolate from climate change, then perhaps it is time for them to step aside and make room for a group that is prepared to show true leadership.