Fourteen of 15 hottest years on record globally have been since the year 2000 — only 1998 is the outlier. It was an El Niño year, a hot and smoggy summer.
I was living in London, Ont., at the time with my two children, both toddlers at the time. My two-year-old daughter developed severe asthma, which triggered our move to Sudbury in 1999. I was not overly worried about climate change back then, because I was under the impression the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that year in Kyoto would solve the crisis.
By the summer of 2007, I was deeply worried about what lay in store for my three daughters born in 1996, 1997 and 2007. So, I applied to be trained to be a climate leader by Al Gore and was selected in April 2008.
In 2009 in Copenhagen, at the UNFCCC talks, obstruction by Canada and foot dragging by the USA began the unraveling of the Kyoto Protocol. In 2010, many of us worked hard to get Bill 311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, through Parliament, only to see it killed in the Senate.
In December 2011, Canada officially left the Kyoto Protocol.
After all these failures, you would think an activist such as myself would be defeated. Au contraire.
I have learned through Citizens' Climate Lobby (CCL) that losses are just another chapter. And I've had front row seats to the greatest show on earth: Watching humanity respond to the climate crisis.
I have seen progress — especially this summer.
The first inkling that we were moving forward this summer occurred in May. Suncor's CEO called for a carbon tax and Statoil and other major oil companies in Europe wrote a letter to the UNFCCC declaring a need for carbon pricing.
While lobbying on Parliament Hill in June, Canadian CCL volunteers reported repeatedly that parliamentarians were opening up to carbon pricing. On June 8, Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged to stop the use of fossil fuels by 2100 at the G7 Summit in Bonn, Germany, and in the process acknowledged the threat of climate change.
Later in June, I went to Washington, DC to lobby congress and again volunteers reported a positive difference in the political response, especially among Republicans.
Then, the Pope released an encyclical about creation care. It is a moral call to action for people of faiths to take care of this planet and each other. Not only did 1.2 billion Catholics receive this call to action, the World Evangelical Association also addressed their 600 million faithful and welcomed the Pope's call to action on creation care.
On July 5, more than 10,000 people marched in Toronto for jobs, justice and climate action. Later that week, progress was made at the Climate Summit of the Americas. Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault helped CCL get a seat at the summit.
Joe Robertson represented CCL. His report on how subnational governments are coming together to create meaningful policy to address the climate crisis is a must-read.
From July 9-11, I served as a climate reality mentor at a conference in Toronto with Al Gore and helped train more than 500 new climate leaders in Canada. Gore's message was one of hope and progress around the world in creating a climate friendly future.
First Nations leaders opened up both days of the conference, leaving me with a great sense that the door of opportunity has flung wide open.
It's just a matter of time now. Climate will have its day of truth too because truth always wins.
Cathy Orlando is the national manager of Canada's Citizens Climate Lobby.
