What kind of a world are our kids going to inherit if you’re wrong?

Trump-style climate change denial making inroads in Canada

An open letter to climate change deniers:

According to recent Canadian opinion polls Trump-style climate change denial appears to be making inroads into Canada. Central to this doctrine is that thousands of climate scientists, hundreds of scientific bodies and decades of exacting research cannot be trusted.

It shouldn’t surprise us that the polls say that Canadian conservative voters are significantly less concerned with the climate crisis than more left-leaning voters.

Rather than “monkey see, monkey do,” our home-grown climate change denial seems more like one of the prerequisites for joining the club of Trumpian populism, joined by a suite of connected beliefs: dislike of non-white immigration, gun fetishism, a fascination with conspiracy theories and, above all, mistrust of the scientific process. Just like Trump, climate change deniers somehow think that launching personal attacks against those with whom they disagree is an acceptable approach to understanding how nature works.

I’m deeply, deeply saddened by this made-in-America irrationality. This isn’t the Canada I remember. Although I am a senior citizen, I share a profound sense of despair with the young people of Cowichan who really do understand the implacable advance of the climate emergency. For goodness sake, it’s their future!

I appeal to our denialist neighbours to ask themselves “What if you’re wrong and our drought gets worse, with massive fires sweeping through the Cowichan Valley? What kind of a world are our kids going to inherit if you’re wrong? Why, are your denialism “experts” more reliable than decades of the best science the world can produce? What would it take for you to change your mind?”

Are you brave enough to look yourself in the mirror and have this conversation with yourself?

Are you sufficiently courageous to look an 11-year-old girl in the eye and say your generation would rather sacrifice her future to burn fossil fuels for enormous profit than listen to the warnings of a united scientific community?

Please, just think about it while you’re watching Fox News.

Garth Mihalcheon

Duncan