I do not consider myself an activist. I never have and I never will. I am a parent. I joined For Our Kids for just that - my kids. As a parent, I could no longer ignore the terrifying scenarios - extreme weather, severe and frequent fires, food and global insecurity - predicted by the climate crisis in the near and long term. I knew I could not say to my children that I didn’t know, didn’t care or didn’t do anything to stop climate change. A For Our Kids slogan resonated with me: “Climate work – consider it essential parenting for the 21st century.”
While the coronavirus was still believed to be contained in Wuhan, China, in early 2020, I joined this network of parents and grandparents across the country committed to taking action to tackle the climate crisis. The message of For Our Kids is simple: find some parent friends, take something on for climate, and then share your story.
Fast-forward to today. After watching borders close, the school year end early and playgrounds be barricaded up with caution tape, I now feel grateful that, for now, in Canada, the COVID-19 crisis appears to be under control. All thanks to policy decisions made on science and collaboration across party lines and international borders to work together and importantly put lives before short term profits. Lessons we must now apply to get the climate crisis under control.
In early July, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced a federal government deficit of $343 billion for the year. Reports concluded pandemic-related measures had pushed government spending to Second World War levels. This comparison echoed the discussions early in the pandemic. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the coronavirus outbreak is the biggest challenge for the world since the Second World War. I can think of another: the climate crisis.
It is no secret that scientists are telling us we must act now, and voices across the globe are calling on all governments to pour economic stimulus spending into a green and just recovery. Mark Carney joined with his banking friends to write an op-ed piece in the Guardian: “This [Covid-19] crisis offers us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild our economy in order to withstand the next shock coming our way: climate breakdown. Unless we act now, the climate crisis will be tomorrow’s central scenario and, unlike COVID-19, no one will be able to self-isolate from it.”
As parents, we must add our voices to the call. We at For Our Kids are doing just that. I and other committed parents have organized virtual town halls on a Green and Just Recovery across the country, and we hope parents across our regions can join. North Vancouver’s town hall is scheduled for July 16 and Vancouver’s for July 17. (Register here for North Van and here for Vancouver.)
We’ll be speaking with local elected officials like Jonathan Wilkinson, MP for North Vancouver and Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, and B.C. Minister of Environment George Heyman.
We are grateful for the willingness of our politicians to discuss the critical issue of an economic recovery with us - ordinary parents, neighbours and community members. We are eager to hear about concrete actions, such as shovel-ready green projects and full-scale building retrofits, that will steer our collective path away from fossil fuel dependencies and the societal disasters we face if we don’t change our way of doing and being.
It has been really rewarding to be working with a team of smart, skilled parents of all different backgrounds, motivated to make their voices heard for their kids. It is not easy to organize a virtual town hall while juggling work, home schooling and crying babies. Yet this is the work. We need to call for change, and support each other to make action happen.
Climate change is a crisis. Parents working together can be powerful advocates and role models for our children – even if we are not “activists.”
Marian Hakze is a North Vancouver parent and volunteer organizer for the North Shore chapter of the For Our Kids climate action group.
