“If our current leaders believe we face a climate emergency, then they need to act and speak like it’s a damn emergency. We need them to name it, speak continually about it and rally us at every turn. Because that’s what you do in a crisis. Because that’s what our leaders did in the Second World War and what they are doing with COVID-19.
The climate emergency demands that same level of response.”
— Seth Klein
Four Hopeful Lessons from WW2 to Confront Climate Change.
This hopeful video explains how 4 key lessons for Canada's WW2 mobilization can be used to take action on climate change by Canadian governments and institutions. We all know that climate change is real and we need to dramatically reduce our greenhouse gases as soon as possible, but Canada's emissions have only stagnated since the world agreed to work together on this climate emergency. Using these lessons from WW2, we can envision what true climate action looks like.
Image credits: Joseph Sydney Hallam (left); Meital Smith (right)
Seth Klein’s book, A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, outlines the most critical threat facing Canada and the world. It also offers a blueprint for resolving the climate emergency.
The David Suzuki Institute is working with Klein to put that blueprint into action.
The Climate Emergency Unit will act as a hub to take important climate action beyond the environmental sector — to empower businesses and business people, the arts and culture sector, health professionals and organizations, faith groups, agricultural interests, political parties and more. By convening discussions across a range of sectors and lobbying all levels of government, we will impress upon people in Canada and their political representatives the need for rapid action and bold solutions.
In his book, Klein argues that governments must shift into emergency mode, just as they did during the Second World War and, to a great extent, during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Klein outlines four markers that indicate a government has shifted to emergency mode:
• It spends what it takes to win;
• It creates new economic institutions to get the job done;
• It shifts from voluntary and incentive-based policies to mandatory measures;
• It tells the truth about the severity of the crisis and communicates a sense of urgency about the measures necessary to combat it.
A major part of the David Suzuki Institute’s work will be to ensure that climate disruption is treated as the emergency it is.
