When I was a kid there was a comic book character called Plastic Man. He could do all sorts of contortions, including flattening his body to slip under a door like a piece of paper. Then, it was far fetched to think of people made of plastic. Now, not so much. Over the past two decades we have learned that plastic that escapes or is discarded into the environment crumbles into small particles much as rocks erode down into grains of sand, but much faster. These bits of plastic, called microplastics, keep eroding down into nanoplastic particles too small to see without a microscope. The particles are formed by the breakdown of the plastics that surround us, including packages and synthetic clothes such as fleece. These tiny bits of plastic are found throughout the environment and the creatures in it. We ingest them in the food we eat, water we drink and air we breathe. An article in sciencealert.com said they have been detected in our lungs, livers, kidneys, brains, hearts, blood and reproductive organs. Scientists are trying to get clearer idea of the health impacts of the plastics and the chemicals they can carry with them. An article in prominent medical journal The Lancet earlier this year said potential health effects include “…oxidative stress, inflammation, immune dysfunction, altered biochemical and energy metabolism, impaired cell proliferation, disrupted microbial metabolic pathways, abnormal organ development, and carcinogenicity.” We have reshaped our world and now it is reshaping us. We may not like the result.

When I started writing about sustainable development in 1987 there was optimism about our ability to stop environmental decline. The world had just reached a historic agreement to get rid of chemicals that were destroying the ozone layer. Controls were being put on pollution that caused acid rain. Toxic chemicals were being controlled, even banned. The World Commission on Environment and Development, commonly known as the Brundtland Commission published its historic report, Our Common Future, calling for development that did not keep destroying the environment. Governments and many businesses leapt on sustainability with little or no idea of what it meant or how they were going to achieve it.

A generation later I sat in a parking lot beside a busy highway and watched huge diesel trucks roll by. It was clear how far we are from sustainability. We have made some very important first steps. Renewable energy is gradually supplanting fossil fuels. Electric cars are now more common on our streets. Recycling is normal. In reality these are baby steps on the road to sustainability. Inertia is a huge barrier. We are in a self-centred era when many people value their individual right to consume and pollute above the need to preserve the common good of a clean and productive environment for everyone’s benefit.

Nowhere is this more obvious than in the too-slow transition away from fossil fuels. Car makers trying to in two directions at once. They are building more battery electric vehicles but these are often expensive and many people are concerned about their range and the lack of charging stations. A number of care makers, particularly the North American companies, are producing more big, heavy fuel-hungry pickup trucks. One is advertised as having 540 horsepower.

We need social sustainability if we are going to be able to achieve environmental sustainability. But when governments raise fuel prices to encourage conservation or try to limit the use of hazardous pesticides there are often protests. People locked into driving or spraying chemicals because of past practices are going to need help making a transition. It will be expensive for governments.

Immigration is another hot button issue with strong ties to climate change. It is ironic that rich countries that caused most of the problem through decades of greenhouse gas pollution are on the receiving end of mass migration driven by the effects of climate change, such as drought and ensuing lack of employment and food. The unfortunate result is the rise of more right-wing, anti-immigrant political parties in countries grappling with waves of people coming from the south.

At a time when governments need to take action at a global level we face growing chaos and barriers to unity. The COVID crisis weakened economies. There is increasing economic competition from formerly poor nations. There is a major war in Ukraine and a number of other conflicts. And there is the growth of companies that are now richer powerful than many nations.

In an essay in a Global Transition Initiative forum John Bunzl, founder of the International Simultaneous Policy Organisation, writes that we are in “a struggle between all humanity and a destructive system which has a life of its own.” He writes: “this system is a vicious cycle: no government can move first or act alone to solve global problems because doing so would make its national economy uncompetitive, risking unemployment, capital flight, and economic decline. Whether we are talking about climate, nuclear weapons, AI, tax avoidance, wealth inequality, or other global problems, this destructive system remains in control. It is not that governments don’t want to solve global problems, but that they can’t.”

The Brundtland Report called for lifestyles that are, “within the planet’s ecological means.” After the report came out I asked commission member Maurice Strong if humans can make that kind of shift quickly enough. His reply: “It is going to be a race between our sense of survival and our more indulgent drives.” 

It is time for governments to come clean on the scope and huge cost and social dislocation of a transition away from a fossil fuel economy and from the pillaging of natural resources. People need to know what a hard road we face and we need leadership to move us faster down a path to sustainability.

Three stories in one paper in one day tell a grim story of how our abuse of the environment is coming back to haunt us. A front-page story in The Globe and Mail said smoke from hundreds of forest fires in Western Canada was making the air so unhealthy that people were warned to avoid outdoor activities. In some Saskatchewan cities wildfire smoke drove the air pollution level to 10+, the highest point on the scale. On August 16 there were more than 900 fires burning across the country. Climate warming has made forests tinder dry. Last month a wildfire destroyed about one-third of the historic town of Jasper and is still burning in the park.

In the business section of the paper two stories facing each other tell an important story of how climate change is changing how we behave and how we will have to try to deal with growing crises. At a time of housing shortages and sky-high housing prices climate catastrophes are making things even worse. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and thousands more damaged by fires and floods across Canada and in many other countries in recent years. Many people had no insurance or what they had did not cover all their costs. Insurance costs are going up as companies try to have enough money to pay for increasing damages. Some areas are being designated as flood zones where it will be very risky to rebuild.

Yet a third story shows a different piece of the climate disruption picture. Wildfires and heat waves in many countries are making conditions so uncomfortable that some tourists are avoiding warmer regions. Recently a giant wildfire burned close to Athens as Greece recorded its hottest ever June and July. The travel industry is now referring to “coolcations” with more people heading to northern Europe, Canada and Alaska.

When I bought my first car many years ago one of the first additions was a can of bug remover. I remember the front of the car covered with dead insects after a drive. Sometimes the windshield washer had trouble clearing the bugs. Now, I can drive long distances with maybe one or two bug splashes.

And so, with a nod to the 1960s anti-war song, Where have all the flowers gone?

Where have all the insects gone? Long time passing.

Where have all the insects gone? Long time ago.

Where have all the insects gone? Killed by insecticides every one.

When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

Alberta premier Danielle Smith was moved to tears by the wildfire destruction of about one-third of the historic town of Jasper. But tears are not enough. All the tears in the world will not put out 100-metre-high walls of flame. The question is will this destruction move her to action to stop the climate change that is fueling more and more devastating wildfires. Ms. Smith is the premier of a province with one of world’s greatest reserves of heavy oil and natural gas. She has been a cheerleader for more fossil fuel development in her province even as world experts call for drastic cuts in burning these fuels. The more we burn the hotter the world gets and the worse the droughts, wildfires and floods. People are dying from the heat and losing their homes and businesses to fires and flooding. Ms. Smith is not the only politician supporting more fossil fuel extraction, but her province has the biggest production sites in the country. Political leaders in Canada and many other countries have been promoting or supporting fossil fuel development for years because of the high-paying jobs. As the fires get worse politicians will have to decide if throwing more oil on the flames is a good bet.

Are we smart enough to invent a better and safer future? Negotiations for a global treaty on plastic pollution throws the question in our face. The world is awash in plastic waste. Worse than the disgusting sight of plastic waste strewn across the landscape and wrapped around dying animals is the tiny bits of plastic in our air, water food and our bodies.

The United Nations Environment Programme says that every year we produce about 400 million tonnes of plastic waste and only 10 per cent has been recycled. Every day the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes. We are increasingly breathing, eating and drinking tiny plastic particles formed when larger pieces of waste get ground down in the environment. This week people from around the world are meeting in Ottawa trying to hammer out a global treaty to control plastic pollution. Some are pushing for bans while the plastics industry is trying to stave off controls as it plans to increase production.

It’s unlikely we can or should ban all plastics because many play key roles in the way we live. But it’s obvious that we have to stop the throwaway culture that is threatening our environment and our health. Many countries have brought in bans or controls on single use plastic items such as shopping bags. We could also limit the number of types of plastic to make it easier to recycle them.

Compared to controlling greenhouse gases, controlling plastics is much easier. Doing it will be a test of our ability to control pollution and move to more sustainable development.

When I was growing up, having a steak was a big deal. It was usually a fairly thin piece of meat, often overcooked, a bit tough and shared at the table. As I grew older, I continued to enjoy various meats but the news about their environmental impacts is enough to give one indigestion. I recently saw another article which reminded me that the more meat I consumed the more I was contributing to greenhouse gases. The figures for beef are shocking. According to a United Nations web page more than 70 kilograms of greenhouse gases are released to produce a kilogram of beef. For lamb it is near 40 kg. of greenhouse gases, for pork, 12.3 and for poultry 9.9 kg. Fish comes in at 13.6. Cheese, another of my favourite foods, also comes in high at 23.9 because it comes from cows. Plant-based foods have a much smaller greenhouse gas footprint but not all are guilt free. Large areas of tropical forests are being cleared to plant soy or palm trees to produce oil.

Where do the climate impacts come from? They include methane from the digestive process of ruminant animals such as cattle and sheep, nitrous oxide from fertilizers, carbon dioxide from cutting and burning forests for the expansion of farmland, and the removal of CO2 absorbing mangroves to make room for shrimp farming. More emissions come from manure management, rice cultivation, burning of crop residues and the use of fuel in food production. An estimate in Nature magazine said agriculture may be responsible for approximately 15 per cent of current warming levels.

What can we do? Quite a few companies are producing meat substitutes made from vegetables with varying degrees of success. Some companies are growing real meat in laboratories but it is still expensive to produce. An increasing number of people are becoming vegetarians and many more are limiting meat in their diet, myself included. It’s the fastest way to reduce the environmental impact of food production.

And, Happy Earth Day everyone.

Source: United Nations

It’s hard to believe it was 40 years ago I flew to the United Nations headquarters in New York to interview, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, head of the new World Commission on Environment and Development. In 1983 a number of countries, including Canada called for a commission on the future of the environment. Wisely, the United Nations turned that into something broader, looking at the kind of development that was destroying the environment while providing things people needed and wanted. Dr. Brundtland, a no-nonsense get things done person, pulled together a panel of experts from around the world and in 1987 released a report, Our Common Future, which popularized the term “sustainable development,” now usually referred to as sustainability. It brought a global wave of support but it’s sobering to look at where we are today on the curve of sustainability. Most people are aware of the growing environmental crises and many are changing their behaviour. Governments have enacted many new laws to curb pollution and protect species. Nations of the world have agreed on sustainability goals. But is far from enough. The climate change crisis keeps getting worse because we still don’t have enough affordable and available sources of green energy. Tropical forests are still cut and burned to create agricultural lands. The seas are still being over-fished. There is still poverty, hunger and war. It’s worth celebrating the achievement of getting us on the path to sustainability but the real celebrations will have to wait until we bring our consumption and pollution within nature’s capacity to deal with it on a permanent basis.

As winter grinds to an end we’re approaching another season, that of weddings. They’re one of the most important events in people’s lives. They are often big and expensive. In recent years Canadian weddings were estimated to cost between $20,000 and $30,000. Young couples sweat the cost and the invitation list. How many think about the environmental impact? A European jewellery company has put up a website called The Guide to Sustainable, Zero-Waste, Ethical Weddings. It looks at the impact of a typical wedding using British information but the impacts will be very similar anywhere. There are large amounts of unrecyclable plastic, food waste and exotic flowers flown from far away. The average wedding has a big carbon footprint. What to do? The website provides lots of tips. Some, such as eco-friendly products, rented outfits and ethically sourced diamonds, should be obvious but maybe young couples don’t always think of the environmental impact of their big day. It’s a useful source of information for those who want to reduce their ecological footprint.

There’s a disturbing message in the World Happiness Report 2024. Young people (aged 15-24) in a number of countries are now less happy than older people who are approaching end of life. It probably should not be surprising. The world is full of conflicts. Climate change and environmental decline are wrecking the future for the young. Fewer young people can afford to own a home. [When my wife and I bought our first house many years ago we could afford a nice place in a good Toronto neighbourhood. With current house prices and middle-income salaries, we’d have no hope of buying a similar home today.] Social media have given young people unprecedented ways of connecting but also of being bullied and targeted for extortion.

The latest happiness report, using data from the Gallup World Poll, was prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an international panel of social scientists. Scores are based on individuals’ own assessments of their lives. The survey looked at six key issues: GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and freedom from corruption.

Once again, the Nordic countries top the list for happy people. Wealthy countries did not fare that well. Canada came in at 15^th and for the young ranked 58^th, falling below peers in much poorer countries. By contrast those over 60 in Canada ranked their happiness much higher, comparable to Nordic countries. Why do the Nordics keep ranking high in happiness? They have a good life expectancy and a very strong social safety net. I remember a Dane telling me that the government had raised taxes but had strong public support because people knew the money would be used to keep them secure and healthy in difficult times. By contrast strong political lobbies in countries like the United States fight to lower taxes but this leaves the vulnerable exposed to the risk of crushing health costs and lower life expectancies.

The increasing use of computers has been under the gun for its voracious demands for energy to run the machines and power the Internet. When that energy comes from burning fossil fuels it is aggravating climate change. But an organization called datascienceprograms.com that promotes education in data science is encouraging people to use data science to deal with our greatest environmental problems. A web page titled How Data Science Can Help Fight Climate Change says “Data science … uses different methods, such as machine learning (where computers learn from data) and data visualization (turning data into pictures), to analyze the details and understand the most challenging components of climate change.” It goes on to explain how data is used to understand climate and to propose some solutions to our changing climate. It’s an interesting site for people who want to understand how data is and can be used and especially for those seeking careers in the data field.

In the struggle for sustainability everyone is a player but some are more powerful and better organized than others. For example, OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) brings together governments and industries to see that the world keeps burning fossil fuels even as their emissions drive a climate disaster. Other industry groups, often working with governments, are busy trying to cut down or burn the world’s remaining forests or to scoop up what is left of the fish in the seas.

On the other side is a large but scattered series of groups and individuals pushing for limits to excessive resource exploitation and pollution. They are up against governments and billionaires who want to maintain the status quo. What chance do they have?

A thoughtful series of essays called What’s Next for the Global Movement? tries to look at how people and organizations might unite to offer a way of living within the planet’s means. It’s from a group of thinkers called the Great Transition Initiative, a project dating back more than two decades.

As they write, “we’re in a world of trouble” and “It emerges from a political and economic system adept at creating problems but inept at finding solutions.” The problems, such as climate change and a growing gulf between rich and poor, “…require a broad response at the global level that goes against the perceived short-term interests of many.” Governments are limited in what they can do. “No government can move first or act alone to solve global problems because doing so would make its national economy uncompetitive, risking unemployment, capital flight and economic decline.”

So, how do you mobilize against the juggernaut of unsustainable development? Authors call for “a global citizens’ movement centered around people, peace and planet. To get broad support it will need to help people understand the limits to growth and to see practical alternatives. It needs to offer a vision of a life that could be slower, simpler and more satisfying, lived in closer connection with self, family, community and nature.

One author calls for an Ecological Civilization Coalition that will turn unrest and protest into a force for societal transformation. It will require collaboration by thousands of organizations and the mobilization of millions of citizens. They will need to work at the global scale and against a powerful and entrenched economic system that puts wealth generation before ecological stability. Such a coalition will need leadership from people who can take the principles of sustainable development from the World Commission on Environment and Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals and push for action. This seismic change will need the broad support of citizens around the world. People will have to be willing to limit their desire to consume in return for a more stable, safe and predictable life. Such a transition will not be easy.

Around the world tens of thousands of people die every year from drug overdoses. It’s a tragic loss of life and the subject of much debate on how to save drug addicts. But millions die annually because of our addiction to fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. A 2021 study by Harvard University, the University of Birmingham, the University of Leicester and University College London, estimated that more than 8 million people died in 2018 from fossil fuel pollution, or 1 in 5 deaths worldwide. The burning of these fuels releases pollutants such as fine particulates and ozone. Breathing these leads to heart disease, strokes, lung disease and cancer.

Numerous studies say that phasing out the use of fossil fuels, which we know is essential to stop climate disasters, will also save millions of lives and reduce suffering from these diseases. Medical experts say it is extremely hard for addicts to break their dependence on drugs. The same is true for fossil fuels, which produce about 80 per cent of the world’s energy and support our economies and lifestyles. The greenhouse gases they produce are also causing a dramatic increase in weather disasters, such as floods, droughts and wildfires. Warmer weather is melting glaciers and polar ice caps, raising sea levels, and is allowing tropical diseases to spread further. The net result is more death, destruction of property and human misery. So cutting fossil fuel use will not only stabilize our climate but it will save millions of lives a year.

It was perhaps the best we could hope for. The 198 countries at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai agreed for the first time that the world has to transition away from fossil fuels by 2050 to stop the growing damage from climate change. Many countries wanted stronger language, such as an explicit commitment to phase out or even phase down fossil fuels. The final statement also called for global renewable energy to be tripled and the rate of energy efficiency improvements doubled by 2030. The reality is that emissions may keep increasing. More than 400 oil and gas projects were approved globally in the last two years based on data from Rystad Energy consultants.

Renewable energy is growing fast but fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, still provide nearly 82 per cent of the world’s energy. Renewables, including hydro-electricity, provide just over 14 per cent of power while the remaining 4 per cent is from nuclear reactors, which emit no greenhouse gases. The annual conference on dealing with climate change came during the hottest year since accurate records began more than a century ago. Around the world tens of millions suffered from heat waves, drought, forest fires and floods. A warmer climate is causing the spread of tropical diseases. Previously, the UN’s IPCC climate expert panel has said emissions need to be slashed by 43 per cent this decade to limit global warming to 1.5C, the goal set at the Paris climate summit in 2015.

It’s a troubling sign when the person heading global negotiations to stop climate change is the head of one of the world’s largest oil companies. The president of COP28, the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference is Sultan al-Jaber, who is also the head of the United Arab Emirates’ state oil firm, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Early in the meeting he was quoted as saying there was no science to say that we need to phase out fossil fuels to control climate change. That goes against decades of scientific findings that we must rapidly stop burning coal, oil and gas to cut the amount of climate damage. al-Jaber later said: “We very much believe and respect the science.” Jim Skea, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told the meeting there is a global scientific consensus agreed to by governments. It states that by 2050 coal use is virtually be eliminated and oil use had to be reduced by 60 per cent and gas use by 45 per cent by 2050,

The conference this year in Dubai is shaping up as a titanic struggle between fossil fuel producers and people trying to stop environmental destruction. The meeting opened not with a promise to reduce climate pollution but with an offer to pay compensation to poor countries for some of the damage climate change is causing. We have just come through a year of devastating climate extremes and countries already suffering from the effects of climate chaos want actual reductions in pollution. More than half the 198 countries at COP28 called for a fuel phaseout, an immediate end to all new oil and gas production, and clear end dates for fossil fuel production. The problem is they are asking rich petro states to stop making as much money. Many fossil fuel promoters, their heads firmly buried in oil-rich sands are trying to increase production. Although fossil fuel emissions continue to rise, there are some encouraging trends. More than 100 countries have pledged to triple their renewable capacity and double energy efficiency by the end of the decade. A number of countries are phasing out coal burning power plants and installing wind and solar power. The conference continues until Dec. 12.

It was 40 years ago that the seeds were sown for one of the defining terms of our era: sustainability. In late 1983, the United Nations, at the urging of Canada and a handful of other nations, decided to create a commission on the future of the environment. There was growing concern about uncontrolled pollution and overuse of natural resources. A decade earlier the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment had warned of the dangers of environmental destruction. In the same period the Club of Rome, a gathering of world scientists, educators, economists, humanists, industrialists and civil servants, published Limits to Growth. It warned of impending shortages of natural resources provoking a huge debate. The Science Council of Canada published The Conserver Society, saying that society must “begin the transition from a consumer society preoccupied with resource exploitation to a conserver society engaged in more constructive endeavours.”

In 1984 the United Nations announced the World Commission on Environment and Development, a group of distinguished government, business and academic experts from around the world. The commission, headed by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, held hearings around the world. In 1987, it released its historic report Our Common Future, saying “Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable—to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The Brundtland Report used the term sustainable development but over the years it has been shortened to sustainability. This is a good way of describing the goal but we need to keep a focus on the kind of development we are using. Right now too much of it is still based on fossil fuels whose emissions are ruining our climate and overuse of natural resources, such as forests and fish, which are creating shortages and a less stable environment for our future.

A report on how fossil fuel production is rising despite promises to cut it shows the hypocrisy of nations around the world. It comes at a time when greenhouse gas emissions are rising, the climate is warming and becoming more extreme and people are facing disastrous floods, fires, droughts and storms.

“Governments, in aggregate, still plan to produce  more than  double the amount of fossil fuels in 2030 than what would be consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.” This comes despite 151 national governments having pledged to achieve net-zero emissions. The Production Gap report comes from five expert organizations, including the United Nations Environment Programme. Along with it comes a warning from António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General: “We cannot address climate catastrophe without tackling its root cause: fossil fuel dependence.”

As individuals we are caught in the middle of an epic battle for our future. We know that we need to cut emissions dramatically. Many people are switching to electric cars, mass transit, heat pumps and energy efficiency but it is far from enough. At the same time too many industries, especially fossil fuel producers, keep on polluting, supported by politicians who refuse to lead us into a cleaner future.

Finally, some good news on the climate front. Today the International Energy Agency [IEA] released a report saying we are moving toward a post fossil fuel era. Investment in clean energy has risen by 40 per cent since 2020 both because of the need to stop climate change and because it makes economic sense. This is a historic shift and one that is essential if we are to prevent more climate catastrophes. For many years fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, have provided about 80 per cent of the global energy supply. The IEA forecasts this will start to drop this decade, although not fast enough to stop climate change. It was 50 years ago that we saw the first major oil blockage by a group of Arab countries. It caused a huge economic upset and led for some time to the phrase “off oil” as countries struggled to deal with supply shortages. Once oil supplies resumed the world went on to consume even more oil and other fossil fuels, driving up air pollution and climate change. Now that clean energy is getting cheaper the world is finally starting the long overdue shift away from polluting fuels.

In the 1973 French film, La Grande Bouffe, [the big feast] four men decide to gorge themselves to death on fine cuisine. It was a satire on excessive consumption, but now we are starting to see the reality. People are literally eating themselves to death, though at a slower pace than in the film, with too much unhealthy food, causing heart disease and diabetes. We are also eating up one species after another, whether “bush meat” in the tropics or fish species in decline that end up on our dinner plates.

We humans are inquisitive and acquisitive. These characteristics took us from caves to the moon. But our uncontrolled consumption of the planet’s resources and the resulting pollution threaten our very future. Overconsumption is the root cause of unsustainability. In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development said everyone is entitled to satisfy their needs and reasonable wants. What we see now is an orgy of consumption by the rich minority of people. Too many people feel this consumption brings enough pleasure that it offsets the fear of environmental collapse.

Either people don’t realize or don’t care that it will take decades, even centuries to undo much of the damage we are inflicting on our world. We are entering a whole new era in which climate change will inflict huge damage, we will lose species, and food production will likely fail to keep up with demand. We need something to trigger a great change in our thinking. People need see themselves living well within nature’s ability to regenerate natural resources and safely assimilate our pollution.