Tears can’t turn back the rising oceans: Action can.
My eyes welled up with tears and anger when I read the latest report from the Maldives’ Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam.
He painted a very clear picture of the urgency with which we need to act to address the climate crisis and provided yet another compelling reason why people across Canada are willing to risk arrest in a historic action in Ottawa on Sept. 26th.
Maldives -- a small nation whose 313,000 people are scattered across 200 low- lying islands in the Pacific ocean -- is already feeling the effects of climate change. Speaking today in the Philippines, Minister Aslam reported that entire communities in his homeland have been forced to relocate because of rising sea levels, fresh water has become scarce, soil chemistry has changed so some crops no longer grow and many islands have shrunk due to erosion.
While the Maldives are among the earliest victims of a growing climate crisis, they will not be the last. Last year due to floods and storms 30 million people in the Asia Pacific region have been displaced. While politicians delay action or bury their head in the tar sands our world is pushed closer to the brink.
On September 26th in Ottawa we will push back and I encourage you to join us.
People from coast to coast to coast will be making the trip, risking arrest and using their body to push for change. It’s time to turn away from a toxic tar sands industry and their belching emissions and begin building a green, just, energy future that respects Treaty and Indigenous rights and prioritizes the health of the environment and all our communities. The earth can’t wait.
If you haven’t yet sign-up at www.ottawaaction.ca.
If you want to add your support take the pledge: http://ottawaaction.ca/take-pledge
In solidarity and see you in Ottawa,
m
