Collective Action is Needed
Take action to halt biodiversity loss of threatened species
“Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.” Carl Sagan.
- The science is unequivocal: Economic growth, driven by population growth and growth in per capita consumption, is the underlying driver of climate change and biodiversity loss.
- Government policies that promote economic growth are based on unproven economic theories, instead of on physical and ecological science, thus causing ecological overshoot.
- We have all succumbed to reassuring stories and sustain-a-babble that normalize the destruction of nature.
- All efforts arising from past United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) or to “save the planet and nature” have failed to stem the increase in CO2 and the loss of biodiversity (see graphs in “Attachments”, below).
- If we take action there are changes we can make and collective actions we can take to turn the tide.
Take action now!
The Qualicum Institute urges concerned citizens to take action and challenge governments’ reliance on economic growth as the way to ensure humanity’s well-being. The course they are currently charting is leading to greater and greater misery for billions of people, livestock, and wildlife, thanks to the extremes of climate change.
“It is time for a widespread marketing campaign to sell the fact that the only viable way forward is towards a steady state economy where humanity strives to live within ecosystem limits. This means selling carrying capacity and selling the concept that quality of life cannot be hitched to never ending growth and our relentless consumption
of nature’s bounty.” Directors of the Qualicum Institute.
Take action now! Let your Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislative Assembly know your concerns about the climate and biodiversity crises.
Copy your politician’s email address from either website above and fill out our form letter to send to them immediately. You will receive a copy of your letter at your email address.
Or else, copy the letter below into your email program, personalize it and include the links to the graphs below. If you want to include the actual graphs in your letter, save them to your files and attach to the email, or insert as images into the body of the email.
Sample Letter
From: (your name)
Address: (your full address)
Date:
Dear: MP or MLA name,
I am writing to you today to express my deep concern about the government’s failure to address the climate and biodiversity crises.
The IPCC and Scientists’ Warnings to Humanity, in addition to many recent scientific studies, have stated that economic growth and population growth are the two main drivers of these crises. Yet the government continues to focus on growth policies that will only exacerbate these problems.
The government’s claim that we “don’t have to choose between protecting the environment and growing the economy” is a misconception, a falsehood. Their growth policies are founded not on science but on discredited theory, wishful thinking, and a perilous tendency to discount future harms in the interest of present benefits.
Past policies have not worked because they are based on unproven economic theories instead of the physical and ecological sciences. The climate is changing at an alarming rate, and biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented level. And past global attempts have done nothing to curb these crises (see attached).
I urge you to use your position to push for policies that will actually change the trajectories shown in the attached graphs. We need to move towards a steady state economy and control population growth. These are the only solutions.
The challenges we face demand collaboration, foresight, and a commitment to the well-being of both present and future generations. Your government, and you as a Member – and a citizen – have a choice. Either:
- show the leadership needed to act now and you will go down in history as heroes – averting the biggest existential crises humanity has ever faced, or
- fail to act now and go down in history as contributing to the biggest existential crises humanity has ever faced.
Let me know what you will choose!
Sincerely,
Attachments
Also see the Qualicum Institute website for supporting data.
