There is a different sense of urgency amongst young people about the destructiveness of human impact on the environment.
This video is an example of the urgency youth feel about climate change. She is a 13 year old Vancouver girl who really set out the issues and concerns at a UN Conference on the Environment.
In the early 90’s Albertans set out on a mission to get rid of our fiscal debt and deficit. We did it with a single minded focus that engaged the entire province and drew people together to make personal sacrifices. We could have done it better – like making sure we did not harm the provinces social and physical capital at the same time as we made massive and brutal cuts in government spending.
A large part of our motivation was we decided as a province that we could not face our children if we saddled them with this enormous fiscal liability we had accumulated in the 80’s due to plummeting oil prices.
It is time to revisit the focused set of values and reconsider what kind of society and environment we will leave for future generations. This ecological effort will also take a significant personal focus and entail changes of behaviours that many will see as sacrifices. Alberta is an obvious place to start this change in behaviour and attitude towards the enviornment.
We need a crystallizing moment that triggers the collective consciousness and captures imagination of Albertans to get this change happening. Then we will see the massive changes necessary in our personal and collective behaviours that must engaged to really address the crisis identified in this video.
The crystallizing moment or event can we launch an ecological crusade of common cause and mutual caring for the greater good. I only hope we can do it by an intentional deliberate design process and not await another disasterous moment or event in order to get our attention.
Far be it from me to do the whole "sins of the father thing", but Ken, this is David Suzuki's daughter. What else would you suspect?
ReplyDeleteIt is admirable to see a 13-year address such a crowd with such poise, but she in no way can be considered a random sample of her generation.
Her generation is more concerned about the latest iPOD download than making personal sacrifice to achieve some abstract environmental objective. In this, her generation is much like our own.
Her speech was a miscellany of GHG, air pollution, carcinogens, etc. that could have been pulled from a Greenpeace flyer.
This is coming off as a rant, and I was thinking I should have just deleted it. But my issue is this. I disagree that there needs to be some catalyst event that causes some authoritative body to implement a drastic, mandated change on the individual in the hopes of accomplishing an objective - in this case, reduction of CO2 emissions in the hope of forestalling anticipated atmoshperic warming.
What we need is evolution, not revolution. Set competitive standards for energy consumption, give people products they can buy that are environmentally friendly, reduce packaging, and allow price mechanisms to work (e.g. the cost of gasoline IS starting to make a difference in driving habits... U.S. consumption is down again this year). People will do the right thing if given an option, but they will go kicking an screaming the other way if you impose some authoritarian control.
Check out the book "Geography of Hope" by Chris Turner. It deviates from the usual fire-and-brimstone environmental damnation and goes around the world chronicling common sense solutions to these issues.
That is an old video! I think it may be from Rio. Severn Suzuki (who happens to be David Suzuki's daughter, if you hadn't guessed) is all grown up now. She spoke at the Alberta Youth Environment Summit a few years back and she continues to be inspirational.
ReplyDeleteThx for the background eh.
ReplyDeleteI think I can make out the 1992 date in the background on the grainy video and therefore thought is was done at Rio.
The fact it is an old video is even more significant. I wonder if her message is at the "tipping point" yet?
Anon @ 3:56 - again thx for the background on the video and I will check out the book recommendation.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we need random samples of a generation. We need leaders with character and capacity and an intent to serve the greater good...rare stuff these days.
I was struck by her intergenerational equity agrument -made 16 years ago. I wonder what shape the planet will be in when we baby boomers leave it to the next generation. I think that is a fair comment for youth to make today - just as it was in 1992.
Being Suzuki's daughter is interesting but not much more than that to my mind.
With this freezing weather in Edmonton, please give us some global warmning!
ReplyDelete"Her generation is more concerned about the latest iPOD download than making personal sacrifice to achieve some abstract environmental objective. In this, her generation is much like our own."
ReplyDelete-Anonymous 3:56
I really tire of these types of generalizations. I know many, many, many young people taking action to stop climate change. For instance: take one look at Alberta's blogging landscape: Daveberta.ca, Four Strong Winds, Straight Outta Edmonton, CalgaryGrit, Alberta: Get Rich or Die Trying, Grandinite, Pierre Trudeau is my Homeboy, and even Albertatory are all blogs written by younger Albertans. Do you think these bloggers are all too concerned with the latest iPod (to use your own cliche)? Keeping an updated, interesting blog with (hopefully) useful and relevant social commentary requires a lot of personal time and effort. Stop using the 'apathetic youth' excuse it's inaccurate and counterproductive.
Thx again eh - my sentiments exactly.
ReplyDelete"Keeping an updated, interesting blog with (hopefully) useful and relevant social commentary requires a lot of personal time and effort."
ReplyDeleteSure it does. And as someone who reads several blogs, I appreciate their efforts, even if I sometimes disagree with their opinion. But blogging, in and of itself, does nothing for the environment, which was the specific object of the sentence.
And sure it is a generalization. And maybe it is unfair. But if we are on the subject, then you may as well cite most of the bloggers you list as members of the generalization club ("People who vote conservative are knuckledragging misogynists who love to shoot wolves out of the window of their SUV" versus "people who vote Liberal are intelligent social justice friends of the earth") pretty much covers the thoughts of several of the ones you list.
Two wrongs may not make a right, but let's not pretend to sainthood here.
"Her generation is more concerned about the latest iPOD download than making personal sacrifice to achieve some abstract environmental objective. In this, her generation is much like our own.
ReplyDelete-Anonymous 3:56"
Spoken like someone who is truly out of touch with the generation of youth today. My almost 13 year old is most certainly concerned, educated and taking personal climate appropriate action of her own volition. This particular generation does not need to be told of climate change or told to make the sacrifices necessary... it's second nature to them, a reality they live in. It's the adults who can't come to grips with it.
"With this freezing weather in Edmonton, please give us some global warmning!
- Anonymous 8:14"
Perhaps Anonymous @ 8:14 would care to do some research on how global warming produces colder temperatures in our part of the world? I'll give him a hint... warmer ocean waters causes warm air to rise, allowing colder arctic air from just north of us to fill up our space. It's not rocket science, but I sure do tire of peeps saying that global warming is debunk because of snow and cold temps. Read a book or something.