Dear India, China, Bangladesh, etc: How to tell Canadians – not Canada – where you stand on climate change

The government of Canada and many Canadians currently have a difference of opinion on climate change. Most of us think we should be doing our part and are embarrassed, even ashamed by the government of Canada’s obstruction at Copenhagen and elsewhere. That said, we’re clearly not sufficiently motivated to make our government do our bidding; we are, sadly, complacent.

And, unfortunately, not all Canadians are honourable; there are those who put profit and prestige before all else, and they oppose any changes to the status quo. They will fight, and have been fighting, dirty. These people have been funding climate denial – they have no problem with lying, with attacking scientist, and even blaming India. They operate from a Predator Morality, which has the foundational principle: Might Makes Right. They have fought to maintain their privileged, taxpayer-subsidised positions for years with lies and smear campaigns – they will not fight fair now.

We need to see millions of you in the streets – tens of millions – sending a personal message to Canadians of conscience, the types of Canadians who fought in WWII and who created the United Nations Peacekeeping Force to prevent such slaughter, such waste, ever again. You must be the medium and the message. You must make real to us where you stand on climate change, and why. The land you will lose. The millions displaced, bankrupted, bereft.

Forget the monetary cost – show us the personal cost. Make it real; make us understand what you will go through.

Then tell us you expect us to rise above our politicians and vested interests and do the right thing, whatever it takes. To be again those brave Canadians of World War II who charged the machine gun nests, who died by the thousands to secure a free world, and the wise Canadians who created Peacekeeping. Call upon us to again do the right thing, to do what must be done.

This message must be large enough and clear enough to be unmistakable, to be visible through the smokescreen your enemies have thrown up to blind Canadians. Thus the need for tens of millions of you to turn out and say the same thing to Canada:

“Be true”

It must be massive; any fewer and your enemies will say it was a tiny fraction of the population. How you send the message is up to you; here are some suggestions:

• Send actual letters to every Canadian. Not emails. There are approximately 11 million households in Canada. Have an Indian write a personal, handwritten letter to each Canadian.
• Arrange with Google to map Indians across your country turning out and waving white sheets.
• YouTube it
• Get creative…

Tell us to “be true.”

We will get the rest. According to our national anthem, we must “stand on guard for the True North strong and free.”

And we will. We just need something to jolt us out of our complacency.

__________

Wake us up. Because if this doesn’t work, you’re going to have to take it to the next level.