We're 'at risk of betting the farm on unsustainable projects and creating even more economic chaos for the future', not to mention 'the very building blocks and sustainers of life itself — water, air, forests, oceans, the ability to grow food'

'How is it that we can be at this point in history where we know without a doubt what the impacts of climate change are — and yet our governments seem prepared to invest [in] the very same industrial development schemes that created the problem in the first place?'

'Oil, gas and nuclear projects are more properly “nation destroying” projects. Ask any of the First Nations currently evacuating their homes and territories as climate change creates prime conditions for out-of-control fires.'

130 civil society organizations representing thousands of Canadians have written the PM, reminding him that 'nation-building' must 'respect Indigenous rights and protect the climate'. 'Oil and gas development and pipelines will not meet these goals'

'Every year, 34,000 people die prematurely in Canada from fossil fuel pollution. Around the world, the deaths from air pollution are 8.7 million people – more than deaths from smoking.'

'Canada has the third highest childhood asthma rates linked to pollution in the world. We are just behind fellow oil giants Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in this category.'

'The latest fire map shows Canada’s north, from the Atlantic to British Columbia, under an extreme fire threat.

Mass evacuations are underway in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The army has been sent into Northwestern Ontario. Folks in major cities are coughing from the smoke of fires thousands of kilometres away.

Toronto had some of the worst air quality on the planet. People are being told to stay indoors.

And the hot months are still on their way.'

'There was no discussion of pipelines other than Wab Kinew stating at an all-candidates’ meeting in 2022 that that’s where his line in the sand was: no new pipelines'

'All Manitoba NDP candidates in the 2023 provincial campaign were told that we cannot be pro-pipelines and run for the party … But with the province burning, here we are'

'The authors underlined that decreasing CO2 emissions was the only way to deal with acidification globally'; 'governments can no longer afford to overlook acidification in mainstream policy agendas'

Ocean acidification 'is caused when carbon dioxide is rapidly absorbed by the ocean, where it reacts with water molecules leading to a fall in the pH level of the seawater'; this damages coral reefs, ocean habitats and even dissolves the shells of marine creatures.

Still waiting.

'... actions speak louder than words. Credible climate policies don't delay, but rather cut emissions from day one'

- Mark Carney, 'Value(s)', p.336

“Reforestation is not a silver bullet,” said Bob Allen, a climate scientist at UC Riverside and the paper’s lead author. “It’s a powerful strategy, but it has to be paired with serious emissions reductions.”