Climate change one of our ‘biggest challenges’, York Region residents

Yorkregion.com
June 2, 2016
By Lisa Queen

About 150 York Region residents helped get the conversation started on climate change at a town hall meeting in Newmarket last Tuesday night.

Hosted by the region’s Liberal federal politicians, Newmarket-Aurora MP Kyle Peterson, King-Vaughan MP Deb Schulte, Richmond Hill MP Majid Jowhari and Vaughan-Woodbridge MP Francesco Sorbara, the event is part of a national discussion launched by the federal government.

Ottawa has pledged action on the growing concern of climate change, Peterson said.

In March of this year, after meeting with First Nations, Inuit and Metis leaders, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined the vision and principles that will guide Canada as we move toward sustainable and clean economic growth, he said.

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, but also one of the greatest opportunities.”
The national conversations are giving residents in the region and across Canada the opportunity to share their ideas as Canada develops its plan for encouraging clean growth and tackling climate change, Peterson said.

“Our government believes that the feedback from Canadians, such as yourselves, generated at town hall discussions across the nation, will contribute to Canada’s approach on climate change, an approach that will help our country to meet or exceed international emissions targets and ensure a more sustainable and prosperous future for Canada,” he said.

Amanda Harvey-Sanchez, a member of a national grassroots campaign called People’s Climate Plan, called the meeting a significant initiative.

“I think tonight we have a really unique opportunity where the federal government has said that they actually want to hear from citizens and we’re here to demand that citizens want bold climate action and bold climate action means we need to respect climate science that says we need to keep the majority of fossil fuels in the ground,” said the 20-year-old, who is also a national organizer with environmental group 350.org.

“We need to begin the transition to a 100 per cent renewable energy economy, creating over a million clean and safe jobs for Canadians. And we need to ensure justice for indigenous communities and for workers and those most impacted by climate change.”

Change is needed not only to protect the environment for generations to come, but Canada must prove it is a leader on the global stage, Harvey-Sanchez said.

Residents from across the region who attended the meeting said climate change is an important issue needing action now.

“I care about the issue because I’m very concerned that we’re destroying the planet in many ways and climate change has been one of them. Climate change is the most dire way we’re destroying the planet,” Susan Sheard, a resident of Willow Beach in Georgina, said.

“I’m concerned about what’s going to happen to our fresh water as a result of climate change, what’s going to happen to our wildlife.

“I’m concerned about sea levels rising, all of those catastrophes that are happening as a result of climate change. When I received the email inviting my input, I feel it’s my responsibility to give some input because if we want to see change happen, we have to tell our politicians, our leaders, that we want to see change happen. We can’t sit at home and complain about it, we have to let them know how we feel.”

Vibeka Ball, of King, said she has been concerned about the environment and climate change for a long time.

“Nature, we need to support nature, right?” she said.

“You can see the extremes in the weather everywhere, whether it’s the drought in California or the fires in Fort McMurray. It’s a real concern.”

Climate change is something that affects everyone on the planet, Nobleton resident Susan Lloyd-Swail said.

“We need to have action on the individual level. I think it’s great we are asked if we want to have input.

So, I came out tonight to have my say,” she said.

“Climate change is going to affect all of us. It’s affecting us now with severe weather, flooding, insurance costs are going up, there are all kinds of problems that affect people in a day-to-day way and it’s going to get worse going forward. So, if we can have an impact and encourage spending federal (money) in ways that are going to change and reduce greenhouse emissions going forward, that’s really important we have that say and make the changes that are necessary.”

Governments need to provide incentives to help seniors on fixed incomes convert their houses to more energy efficient homes, said Thornhill’s Marisa Roque, a real estate agent and green broker who helps her clients find solutions in their homes that are gentler on the environment.

“I care about the environment passionately,” she said.

Norm Beach, who is moving from North York to Richmond Hill, said he has felt strongly about nature for a long time.

“What concerns me is the nature we have enjoyed for so long is under threat and it is under imminent threat. I’m very pleased to see so many people from the region come out sharing my concerns,” he said.

“I want our elected representatives to know this is a top-of-mind issue. I believe it is the issue of this century. So far, politicians have not paid close attention to it. We’re dealing with all of these issues that are day-to-day concerns and we’re missing this groundswell of problems that are being created by an invisible enemy. Essentially, climate change is the thing we won’t recognize until it has totally changed our way of life. It is already changing it and I don’t want to see worse impacts in the future.”

Canada needs to make sure the environment and the economy are growing together rather than against each other, Schulte said.

“Climate change is real. Climate change is going to bring very significant changes to the water cycle, to temperature, to invasive species, to more severe storms,” she said.

“These are real issues that we’re going to be dealing with, which are going to drive up costs. We know that we have to do our part. We know that continuing to burn fossil fuels and increasing fossil fuel emissions are going to add to the problem.

“It doesn’t make sense to keep adding to the problem so we need to change the model of how we move forward and we need to find creative ways to do that.”