Tamara Harbar
Going Green

Someone asked me recently if I thought anything would come of the Copenhagen climate change talks or whether it was all media hype and useless chatter. Either way, I said, it’s going to be one heck of a roller coaster ride.

For at least a year, there’s been a gradual build-up to these talks. Expectations rose as we got closer to December, peaking at the mere prospect of a binding global agreement. Then expectations plummeted when political leaders put out the word they had no intention of agreeing to anything, except to log more air miles for more meetings next year.

But Obama’s surprise announcement that he would attend the talks raised hopes again. Harper, ever the faithful sidekick, decided he’d attend, too, just to be polite.

On the sidelines, religious and spiritual leaders – from the Dalai Lama to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Orthodox Christianity’s Patriarch and Muslim’s grand mufti of Egypt – have spoken out about our moral obligation to care for all life on this earth.

Meanwhile, climate change deniers are delightedly latching onto private e-mails between scientists as evidence that climate change is a scam being perpetrated for the sake of a tax grab.

Then there’s average folks like me who wonder since when did politicians need to go to all this trouble to raise taxes or create new ones? And what do e-mails have to do with the pelicans now nesting in James Bay, the disappearing honeybees or the millions of missing salmon that didn’t return to BC’s Fraser River this fall? Melting polar ice and glaciers and the droughts that have already begun are physical evidence that our world is going through some dramatic changes. And so the ride continues.

Now we seem to be coasting along with the view that something might come out of the talks after all. One thing’s for sure: there will be more ups and downs in the days ahead.

There’s no way of knowing where we’ll end up until we’re past all the twists and turns and the roller coaster has slowed to a halt. Then we can lurch our way down the ramp, catch our breaths and look around to get our bearings again.

That doesn’t mean these talks aren’t humanity’s chance to make major changes for the better.

But the politicians, world leaders and decision-makers won’t undertake those changes without massive support and pressure from average citizens concerned about the damage humans are doing to the planet.

Let’s remember those changes aren’t just about cooling off the planet, they’re about cleaning up, too. There are lots of reasons besides climate change for reducing toxic emissions and wastes.

Isn’t it interesting that an anagram for Copenhagen is open change?

Here’s how to help:
• Post a picture of a child you love with Moms Against Climate Change at www.takeactiononclimatechange.com.

• Become a citizen of Hopenhagen. Post your personal message of hope on the world map at www.hopenhagen.org/home/map.

• Help Nature Canada save the polar bears at www.charlesandroger.ca.

• Send a message to Stephen Harper and opposition leaders using this handy on-line form at www.davidsuzuki.org/climate_summit.

• Send a letter to: Office of the Prime Minister, 80 Wellington St., Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2, Canada (no stamp needed). E-mail our PM at pm@pm.gc.ca or send a fax to 1-613-941-6900.