GUEST COLUMN, LOUGH: Climate action demands more nature-based solutions

by Shannon Lough

Take a deep breath.

These days I have been a little more aware of the air I’m pulling into my lungs. It’s fresh on the north coast of British Columbia, but how long will that last?

Our obsession with post-apocalyptic narratives isn’t just a coincidence. You feel it too.

The sleeping giant has finally awoken in the collective force of today’s youth. September 20-27 has been deemed Global Climate Strike week by young people from around the world, and even right here in Prince Rupert, in their efforts to disrupt ‘business as usual.’

WATCH MORE: What does PRMS want? Climate action. When do they want it? Now.

The intensity of the climate emergency continues to grow, but the response isn’t quick enough.

That was the resounding message from 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, who spoke at the UN Climate Summit in New York on Sept. 23.

The statistics she used in her speech aren’t anything new, but the gravitas in which Thunberg delivered them felt like a wake up call for adults.

Did you know that cutting emissions in half in the next 10 years only gives us a 50 per cent chance of keeping the world’s temperature below 1.5 Celsius — this is the tipping point when scientists say the adverse impacts of climate change will occur.

We’re not acting fast enough.

The world had 420 gigatons of carbon dioxide left to emit back on January 1, 2018, and that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

We all know these numbers.

The scientific details on the impending climate emergency were laid out in the UN’s IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 2018 report, readily available to all online.

I have felt a lot of hope learning about the young woman who spent her Fridays demonstrating alone outside the Swedish parliament, and who, a year later, is one of the most recognizable leaders of the global climate action movement.

But she doesn’t want to be your hope. She wants you to find a solution.

READ AND WATCH MORE: “How dare you?” Greta Thunberg addresses UN climate summit

There is the looming monster in the room that we continue to feed — the ever-growing economy. Here’s another fact plucked from the Nature Now video: “We spend 1,000 times more on fossil fuel subsidies than we do on nature-based solutions.”

One of the reasons I moved to Prince Rupert was to live on the edge of the wilderness, close to the ocean, mountains, and coastal rainforest.

I grew up surrounded by farms and forests in Ontario. There was an apple orchard next to my high school. The last time I visited, box stores and housing developments had swallowed up the natural spaces.

For what? To grow the economy.

This year in B.C., I experienced two moments where I felt a familiar sense of despair. In two places, near the Butze Rapids Trail and on the way to the North Pacific Cannery, the lush coastal rainforest landscape I have become used to was hacked down to make way for economic growth.

I’m not against economic development, but there needs to be a balance.

Who will want to live here when all the trees are gone? The pristine beauty of this place is likely one of the only reasons people who move here decide to stay.

But it’s not just about how it looks, we need it to live.

There’s the matter of science.

We need trees, and the phytoplankton in the ocean, to suck up carbon dioxide. Our remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone in less than eight-and-a-half years if we don’t do something about our emission levels.

Let’s plant more trees, be more mindful on where we’re cutting them down for industry, and find ways to reinvest in nature-based solutions to offset the loss.

The economy and environment are inextricably connected. We cannot continue to grow one and not the other.

READ MORE: COCULLO: Let’s Redesign Rupert, sustainably