Glasgow at high noon

With one week to go, it is imperative—in ways that are impossible to predict or imagine—to acknowledge the future of our planet is on the line or at stake. The Oct. 24 New York Times lead editorial says it all: “The Global Stake at Glasgow.” Looking back 33 years, in June of 1988, a remarkable event occurred during a very hot summer—an international conference on The Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security, hosted by Canada in Toronto. Three hundred participants—including policy makers, international scientists, non-governmental and governmental organizations, and United Nations organizations—issued a warning at the conclusion of the conference that declared, “Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences could be second only to a global nuclear war.” The international conference was chaired by Stephen Lewis, then Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations. The opening address was delivered by then prime minister Brian Mulroney, and the keynote address by Gro Harlem Brundtland, at the time prime minister of Norway and chair of the Brundtland Commission. Canada took the lead in the international community, to indicate the intensity of the threat and the significant actions which needed to occur with respect to the atmosphere, to prevent an unimagined human tragedy which could and likely would occur. That was in the summer of 1988. A federal election followed a few months later, and there was a widespread belief that the accelerating climate threat was one of, if not the most important international crisis to be addressed by the new Canadian Parliament. In December of 1988, following my own return as the newly elected MP for Toronto-Rosedale, Ont., I was asked by the re-elected Mulroney government to serve as the chair of the first House of Commons Standing Committee on the Environment. In the early months of this new committee, we had wide-ranging discussions on what our mandate for the next four years should be. It became urgently clear—and with the unanimous agreement of members from all political parties—that concerns affecting the Earth’s atmosphere must be the priority. The previous few years had preoccupied Members of Parliament with threats to the ozone layer and the continued damage from acid rain. Much time and significant actions had been taken on both the UN Ozone Treaty in Montreal in 1987 and the substantial collaboration with the provinces and the U.S. on treaties and specific remedies on acid rain reduction and elimination. It seemed in 1989 that the climate issues could be understood, and satisfactory actions could be taken both in Canada and beyond. Much time and exhaustive hearings were held to get at the root of the problem. Meantime, Canada’s new minister of the environment, Lucien Bouchard, adopted the specific reductions in fossil fuel emissions from the Changing Atmosphere recommendations and promoted them immediately at international meetings in which Canada was a leading participant. The 1988 Conference concluded that the changes in the atmosphere due to human pollution "represent a major threat to international security and are already having harmful consequences over many parts of the globe; and reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 20 per cent of 1988 levels by the year 2005 as an initial global goal. Clearly, the industrialized nations have a responsibility to lead the way.” Several years later, in the preparations for the Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil, in 1992, Canada again took the lead in pushing for a new UN Convention on Climate Change and chaired the drafting committee for the new UN Treaty on Climate Change. Recalling this now, almost 30 years later is cause for weeping; but also, a profound reminder that we can take action and we can lead, when we want to. In Paris, for the 2015 meetings of the UN Conference of the Parties on the Climate Treaty, the Canadian government did seem ready to lead. So did most of the provinces and territories. Six years later, too much ground has been lost while public anxiety has soared. We need a firm commitment in both governmental action and public support. This needs to be a whole of government and all-hands-on deck approach from Canadians from coast to coast to coast. We know this can happen; and now it must. It is in the DNA of Canadians to work together in times of great need or crisis. This is our best opportunity, and any delay will only make our task that much more difficult and quite likely an outcome with more stress, strain, and suffering for all. Let us not turn our backs on this moment. Let us face our common future with firm and steadfast resolve. David MacDonald is a former MP, cabinet minister, and ambassador. The Hill Times