Pray for rain — and plant more trees

Opinion

As I write this, Saskatchewan is under another air-quality alert as smoke from Alberta and B.C. drift over to cast a shadow on what would typically be a sunny June day.

It’s a day of indoor work while the winds dry out my garden and the prospect of a morning run evaporates with the first whiff of wildfire smoke.

But I still have a home. And that home in a small farm town is buffered by miles of open farmland and copses of poplar trees. Saskatchewan’s wildfires are three hours north of me in the boreal forest. Last Saturday, we had our first real downpour since the snow melted but the drying winds picked up again the next day.

“Pray rain,” we say to each other at the post office. Thanks to the Chinese tariffs on canola and peas, Prairie farmers planted wheat instead. “It won’t matter what the farmers seed,” the locals say, “if we don’t get more rain there will be no yields.”

Manitobans are also navigating enormous challenges on the home front. While one eye is poised north on the wildfire crisis and the other looks anxiously south at the threat to U.S. civil rights, Prairie people are feeling overwhelmed.

Whenever I’m in trouble, I look to my late father, John, for wisdom. Dad was great at taking the long view. “Patricia, in five years, will this problem even matter?” Most of the time Dad was right. The crisis would blow over and life would return to normal.

What would my father, a lifelong conservative who was educated by Jesuits and abided by the social contract, say about U.S. President Donald Trump? It’s unprintable.

In the case of the Trump government and its egregious conduct, dad’s long-view approach works. As we count down the days to the American mid-term elections, a course correction seems inevitable.

In the interim, we watch in shock and horror. It’s been almost six months since the Trump inauguration. How long does it take to dismantle a democracy?

Can Trump really be calling in the National Guard to quell a legitimate protest against his retrograde use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents? Seven hundred U.S. Marines may now joined 2,000 California National Guardsmen despite California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s clear objections.

It brings to mind Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s anthemic protest song, Ohio. On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four students at Kent State University during a protest against the Vietnam War. “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,” sang Young.

I was seven years old during the turbulent time of the Kent State shootings. My parents reminded me that Neil Young, the son of my parents’ friends, Scott and Rassy Young, was a brave Canadian who deployed his talent to shed light on the wrongful deeds of the Nixon administration.

Right now, I’d prefer to see “Tricky Dick” Nixon at the helm. Trump’s shock and awe approach to governance means that he’d rather fund the mobilization of Marines than support FEMA. Since Trump assumed office, America’s federal disaster relief program has been gutted. In a period of record unpredictable and harsh weather, it’s disastrous timing.

Climate change is an even bigger challenge than Trump. It’s not something we can fix overnight. But if we don’t take collective action, it will get much hotter. There will be more wildfire evacuations, floods and drought in the years ahead.

Given the magnitude of the problem that Prairie residents currently confront, we cannot endure the distraction of another Trump drama. Yet we cannot, in good conscience, look away and do nothing.

On the federal level, Canada can be a sanctuary country. Prime Minister Mark Carney can offer safe asylum for those impacted by Trump’s regime.

On the local level, citizens can take tangible action to mitigate the impact of climate change. Manageable and affordable projects like community gardens can provide food security and citizen engagement.

On the federal transportation file, offer tax breaks for telecommuters, ride share programs and people who cycle, or walk, to work in the summer season. Fund bike lanes, not more pipelines, Mr. Carney.

One simple and accessible fix is to plant more trees. Diana Beresford-Kroeger, a Canadian botanist and author, says if we each plant one tree per person over six years, it will help offset our carbon footprint.

Tomorrow the wildfire smoke will clear and I’ll be able to weed my garden again. But Canada’s long-term vision, the protection of Mother Earth and our democratic freedoms, requires our constant vigilance.

Patricia Dawn Robertson lives in rural Saskatchewan. Her new book of father-daughter escapades, Media Brat: a Gen-X memoir, can be purchased at MeatDrawBooks.com