On Saturday, about two dozen folks from Greater Sudbury joined nearly 10,000 other Canadians in every corner of our country to say with a loud and rapidly growing voice, “Enough with the tar sands,” “We don’t want pipelines” and “We are holding government accountable for action on climate change”.
LeadNow organized the volunteer-led national day of action with a coalition of First Nations and a real variety of citizens groups including Forest Ethics, Greenpeace, the Council of Canadians and SumofUs. This started as a pipelines and tar sands protest but morphed into rallies for all kinds of environmental reasons.
The individuals who braced their signs against the wind at the rally in Sudbury reflected the same kind of diversity seen in the coalition of organizations involved nationally and in the variety of issues stressed in different communities.
Rachael Charbonneau aptly quoted Dr. David Suzuki’s recent statement, “Environmentalism has failed” in her speech, lamenting the protection of our environment as a special interest, and the failure of capitalism to provide for people.
Dr. David Pearson encouraged a hopeful view of the future of environmentalism portrayed on a sign one protestor held. The message read, “Healthy environment = healthy economy”. Dr. Pearson suggested this is the future of environmentalism, saying we can’t continue to go to Ottawa with science and proof of the damage we are causing our environment because they’ve heard it all before and they just aren’t listening. He suggests we need to instead convince government that a clean environment, including green energy and a low carbon future really is good for our economy and our future.
The local event included the usual: people, signs and honking horns but there was also music and conversation among folks who don’t agree on all the issues or the way to tackle them. What these people do agree on is the need for a new approach and the cooperation of diverse voices on all of the issues plaguing our society if we are going to make a difference in the future of Canada and our planet. Perhaps environmentalism hasn’t failed. Maybe we are just in the initial stages of a new kind of cooperation.
Karen Bringleson was one of the organizers for this event.
