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Headlines from the Copenhagen summit: hundreds of protestors arrested; fake press releases; developing nations walking out of meetings; no global agreement on the near horizon; Canada a major stumbling block to obtaining a positive outcome. 

When confronted with a global and generational challenge why can’t we find the collective will to embrace it and get on with the job of addressing it? 

Humans are supposed to be able to reason with a sense of time; to make decisions in the present while taking into account the lessons of the past and the implications for future generations. 

Yet, for far too long, we’ve lived only for the moment and, mostly, only for our own self-gratification. We’ve been burning through the planet’s resources like there’s no tomorrow, using its air, water and soil as free dumping grounds for the toxic byproducts of our consumer economy while destroying Earth’s capacity to provide a habitable climate because of our addiction to cheap and easy fossil fuels. 

It’s now abundantly clear that future generations will pay for our selfishness. Every generation from now on will have fewer options than we enjoyed unless we take dramatic steps to fundamentally rethink and restructure our economic activities, our energy systems, our relationship with the planet and all the “free” services it gives us, and our obligations to each other and to future generations. 

We don’t lack the ability to think creatively and find innovative solutions to the challenges confronting us. We don’t lack the capacity to embrace fundamental change and restructure our existing systems to make them sustainable. What we lack is the kind of leadership that will take on the vested interests resisting change. We lack leaders who will make decisions in the best interests of the majority of the present generation and future generations. 

The headlines out of Copenhagen could be: climate change accord achieved with aggressive targets and supports for developing nations; new trade agreements with higher environmental and social justice standards signed; a bill of rights for future generations supported by world leaders. 

The difference between the real headlines and the potential ones is the lack of a collective demand for an entirely different kind of political leadership as seen in the absence of young voters during general elections. Until young people start voting in large numbers the vested interests will win and future generations will lose. 

Bob Simpson MLA
Cariboo North
Opposition Critic for Aboriginal Relations

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