EMERGING ISSUE: CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSE
Rationale - In late 2018 reports cited a more imminent crisis than previously reported, then discouraging results at COP24 in Poland, and disagreements here in Canada as to what constitutes adequate action. Canada has an election in October 2019, and NCWC needs policy in order to comment on climate policy of the Government of Canada.
Whereas #1 the National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC) has adopted policy protecting Canadians from changes in our environment, for example, air pollution from industry and transportation, water pollution from waste, nuclear energy production, fracking, agricultural run-off, antibiotics, other medications and food additives, and land pollution from industry and mining, fossil fuel drilling; and
Whereas #2 changing average rainfall and its annual distribution, and extreme weather episodes have contributed to food insecurity; and
Whereas #3 insects which were once kept in check in Canada by cold winters are now surviving and spreading, ex. spruce bud worm, leading to flammable dead trees and forest fires threatening and destroying habitation of people and animals and causing massive release of carbon particles, carbon dioxide, and other volatile gases from burning wood and resin, compounds which accelerate warming; and
Whereas #4 rural and Indigenous people are affected by changing animal habitats, loss of natural habitat, loss of pollinating bees, new permafrost conditions and retreating sea ice; and
Whereas #5 from the publication of Limits to Growth in 1972, the regular reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the international conferences on the environment such as Rio de Janeiro in 1992, through Kyoto 1997, Copenhagen 2009, Durban 2011, Paris 2015, Poland 2018, we have been warned of an impending crisis; and
Whereas #6 Canada is not on track to meet its Paris targets, and it is now widely acknowledged by experts that climate change is proceeding rapidly, and that this is having serious effects on the global environment, and on communities and individuals; therefore be it
Resolved #1 that the National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC) adopt policy to recognize that our climate is changing and that measures need to be taken quickly to mitigate the effects on Canadians now and in the future; and be it further
Resolved #2 to urge the Government of Canada to respond to the crisis and communicate its plan to meet the agreed upon targets which should mitigate the effects of climate change globally, and legislate those actions in Canada; and be it further
Resolved #3 to urge our federates and provincial and local councils to urge their respective governments to take appropriate actions, and to communicate with their members to educate the membership about the effects of climate change so that as many Canadians as possible will adopt practices that reduce each individual’s impact on the environment.