Collaborative Proposal Creation
Create, improve and sponsor proposals in a respectful, fully bilingual environment. Grow proposals in the "Hothouse", for promotion to the "Workshop", to become official GPC policy.
Proposal text
Be it resolved that.
• The platform of the GPC for the next federal election focus significantly on approaches to the environmental collapse of our civilization, and that,
• The platform be fully costed to show how our platform will ameliorate the climate catastrophe.
Type of Proposal
A directive to ask the party’s Federal Council to consider an action
Objective / Benefit
The climate of the world has changed dramatically in the last few years. Everybody in Canada is aware of the extreme weather events that have become far too common. This is the opportunity the GPC has been built for and is waiting for, and we need to take full advantage of it in the next election. No other party will dare to do it.
The GPC should establish itself as only and exclusively championing solutions to this catastrophe. All policies must be cast in an environmental light. Nothing else matters.
If your proposal replaces an existing policy or policies, which one does it replace?
None and all. This directive places a very forceful emphasis on the elaboration and implementation of all our policies in the light of climate change.
List any supporting evidence for your proposal
Self-evident!
Does this proposal affect any particular group and what efforts have been made to consult with the group or groups?
This directive will require a major change in emphasis at the top planning and execution levels in the party. Nothing else matters.
Jurisdiction: Is this proposal under federal jurisdiction?
Yes
Please indicate the language the proposal is being submitted in.
English
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Conversation with Lev Tarasoff
As a climate scientist/professor long interested in how societies
develop/change, I strongly oppose this motion on the following
grounds:
1) the existential threats to the planet and society are not just the
climate crisis but an inter-related set of global issues
taking us towards a clusterfuck. These include (not meant to be an
exclusive list) climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem
destruction, nuclear/chemical/biological weapons (heck even regular
weapons given how Gaza has been destroyed) and the military
industrial complex, growing inequality, and forced human displacement.
Each of the above are driving the others to varying degrees in different
regions.
2) Many have different views on what is driving the above state of
affairs, everything from the patriarchy to capitalism to governance
failure. I see all as factors, and the main reason I support the GPC
is its policy recognition of this (along with its core values).
3) When you have an inter-related set of problems and drivers, you are
not going to solve any one problem by just focusing on it (basic systems
theory for those interested, cf the concept of sub-optimization).
4) To put this in more crass terms, especially given the stated "All
policies must be cast in an environmental light. Nothing else
matters.", the proposal is effectively saying to someone with family
or friends in Gaza (or South Sudan or..) that climate change is more important than
stopping the ongoing war crimes.
Lev, thank you very much for your comments. I like the pessimism you express in the idea of a clusterfuck.
Of course I'm appalled by the war crimes being committed in the world, be it Gaza, South Sudan, Ukraine, Myanmar, or wherever next. Any single murder is a crime, and 34,000 is not a statistic, but 34,000 times worse than a single death. We need to find ways to end the carnage.
So, yes the GPC needs to be actively promoting whatever solutions we can. But our impact is going to be limited. As it will on Climate change. Canada's contribution is minor on a global scale. But Climate change is existential for all of us, not just the Palestinians. We help everybody therefore in adopting strong climate mitigation and adaptation policies, across the board.
By (for example) denying Israel more armaments, we help the situation in Gaza, and reduce our contribution to global heating. (The same argument is hard to maintain for Ukraine.) Whether we manage to stop the war crimes or not, if we do not find a way to end global warming we are committing collective suicide. Thus let's make sure that all our policies have an environmental impact. If we don't fix the environment, the loss of further thousands in acts of war is almost inconsequential.
(It's arguable as an aside, that we are able as Canadians to do very little about things. The burning of coal is the number one contributor to global warming. Alberta and Australia would like to continue digging coal out of the ground, while China commissions more coal fired plants than it retires. The world is on track for at least 3° C of warming. Reducing Alberta's contribution would be a start.)
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