Mother Nature pulls the economic cart

Opinion

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This article was published 06/12/2023 (679 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Wab Kinew has adopted the saying, “the economic horse pulls the social cart.” He might want to add “ecology, or Mother Nature, pulls the economic cart.”

The global economy has been making withdrawals at the bank of Mother Nature without considering the impact for a long time. You can think of depletion of oil reserves and burning fossil fuels, clearcutting and deforestation, overfishing, polluting agriculture that mines the soil, toxic tailing ponds from mineral mining, urban sprawl-driven automobile dependency. You can think of all these, and more economic activities, as unsustainable withdrawals from the bank of Mother Nature.

We have been making demands and withdrawls on ecosystems through overconsumption and pollution, to the point where the ecological deficits and debt we owe to the natural environment far outweighs any government deficit and debt.

Taking the concept further and we can then view climate change, desertification, ocean warming, acidification and algae growth, melting glaciers, sea level rise, severe weather events, droughts, wildfires, heavy rains, or atmospheric rivers, and whether bombs causing floods, as the interest on the debt we owe to nature, ecology or Mother Earth.

Research documents the connection between ongoing globalization, a deregulated economy and austerity that will lead to social and economic collapse, accelerated by climate change. All made worse by wasting money on wars.

A just transition starts with redistributing the trillions of dollars spent on war and military. After the last 200 years of industrialization and economic exploitation of people on the planet, Manitobans have elected the NDP government to change the trajectory on the climate and inequity crisis we face.

Premier Wab Kinew would be wise to include people like Scott Forbes, professor of ecology at the University of Winnipeg, on a government advisory team to ensure that climate denial is removed from the political agenda.

Climate change denial is not just denying that climate change exists, climate change denial includes a denial of the economic transition necessary to avert disaster. Ending climate change denial includes developing the political will needed to take the necessary action.

Political will includes the political smarts to move the electorate to understand and support the changes needed for just transition and sustainable development.

Not pandering. Not pitting social, economic, and ecological interests against each other, but rather embracing holistic and healthful approaches to development.

Policies like cutting the gas tax or carbon tax is no longer an option. We can no longer subsidize gas automobile reliance and burning fossil fuels, but instead must invest in designing communities for active transportation, public transportation, and carpooling.

We must change building codes and eliminate natural gas heat and instead subsidize heat pumps. We must recognize subsidizing natural gas reliance includes cutting taxes on home heating.

When I was the environment critic during my first term as an MLA, I created a tool I now call The Change Matrix, which is a knowledge translation, system mapping and planning tool. It is designed to help plan the transition from the current unsustainable status quo to sustainable development. This approach was intended for key sectors like resource extractive industries, like forestry, mining, etc. but also helps strengthen the social safety net.

What COVID and climate change are teaching us is that we need a social safety net to support more people in the face of the emergencies mentioned above, caused by climate change, as well as pandemics, or the plague of poverty and deepening inequity.

Kinew and the NDP government are going to be pushed by the Conservative opposition to deny climate change, as they did when in government. Conservatives are not your problem, Mr. Premier. Climate change, inequity and climate denial are your problem. You must not cave to the pressure from conservatives, and instead surround yourself with people who understand how to address the climate-equity crisis.

Please, Mr. Premier, don’t make the political leadership mistake of only listening to people who do not challenge you.

Please engage those who understand issues of inequality and environmental destruction are two sides of the same coin. They both have the same root cause, an unsustainable the deregulated economy that is good at generating wealth, but not good at distributing it.

Please, ensure full environment and health impact assessments on economic projects, and ensure public budgets have mechanisms, like full cost accounting and genuine progress indicators, that recognize the ecology as the foundation for life on Earth, and pull the economic cart. As our first First Nations premier, we trust that land-based public policy and land-based budget making is part of your worldview, the one needed to lead Manitoba to a just transition.

Marianne Cerilli is a health teacher, community development aficionado and former NDP MLA. Mariannecerilli.ca