New Normal is really out of whack
It’s not canaries in the coal mine we need these days; it’s intelligent people in the intense light of day, and especially intelligent people in the upper echelons of government and business.
But that’s not what we’re getting. Instead, our senior levels of government seem either unaware or unable to take firm action when it comes to the issue of climate change; while politicians at the regional and municipal levels are taking steps to address the consequences of what they know is coming, since they are not in a position to address the issue itself.
Take Cowichan Valley Regional District, for instance. They have just launched a new web site called NewNormalCowichan.ca.
They introduced it to the community with a media release saying “Drought and flooding are the ‘new normal’ in the Cowichan region, and are putting our watersheds and communities’ water supply under extreme stress.”
Then came the good news: “Cowichan residents, farmers and business owners now have access to a wide variety of practical, effective solutions to do what they can to minimize the impacts of these very serious problems...”
You can’t blame the CVRD, but surely their upbeat announcement is reminiscent of the band playing gamely on as the Titanic went down. Cheerful language and bright graphics won’t ease the new normal drought meter out of the Dry Gulch zone.
Someone, somewhere in Canada’s national and provincial leadership has to say firmly the ‘new normal’ isn’t normal at all. In fact, the new normal is the economic opportunity being grasped by those who see that alternative sources of energy are where our future prosperity and very survival lay. Canada is being left behind by the new normal.
The only way you can’t see the relationship between increased C02 emissions and increasing global temperatures is by having your head buried in a nice, cool pile of sand.