During the 2021 federal election, we asked supporters to reach out to their local papers to tell them why it’s time for Canada to finally – finally!- end coal exports. We saw some moving, smart and powerful letters, and we want to share them with you.
Want to send your own letter to your local paper? We’ve created a handy tool that makes it easy to look up the contact info and send. Check it out here.
Dear editor,
I, as a lot of people in Canada, am very worried about the climate crisis and considering that elections are getting close, I thought it would be nice to cover that climate emergency is one of the key issues that voters are concerned about, and yet there are no clear promises of actions from candidates about this.
For example thermal coal is dangerous to human health, and is responsible for 800,000 deaths a year globally, but Canada still doesn’t do anything to stop making money on something that literally kills people and the planet. Same goes for all the pipelines that we continue to build despite the fact that they are bad for ecology and indigenous communities, and not even profitable!
We see politicians talking a lot about how they will do more for stopping climate change, but so far it’s just words, we need actions. We need to stop extracting and selling coal to other countries and we need to stop building all these pipelines – humanity doesn’t need more of those. What we need is a planet, where people can live safely and be healthy.
I hope you will be able to cover this important theme and ask local candidates about what they are going to do about that.
Thank you!
Maria K, Ottawa
Dear editor,
People are waking up to the fact that the world is in a state of crisis. And I’m not talking about the COVID pandemic, which we have yet to resolve. The Climate Crisis looms much larger than the pandemic because it threatens life on earth more profoundly and for a greater length of time. The IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has declared a CODE RED confirming that humans are creating this crisis and that it has become an existential threat to life as we know it on earth.
Our Canadian politicians are increasingly talking the talk of battling the Climate Crisis, but they are not effectively walking the walk. We are still exporting thermal coal, among the worst of the worst of the fossil fuels, to other nations when we know that thermal coal is responsible for 800,000 deaths a year globally. Mining, transporting and burning coal also releases toxins into waterways and surrounding ecosystems. We stopped burning thermal coal for electricity in Ontario because of the deleterious effects of air pollution and GHG emissions. But we think it’s okay to sell it to the world?
COVID has reminded us that we all share the same air. Greenhouse gases emitted by any country on our planet also go into the same air that creates global warming and the alarming rise of massive uncontrollable fires, unprecedented heat waves and drought with accompanying crop failures, and devastating floods. So exactly why are we still selling thermal coal?
This is an issue that is under the radar that needs to stop – now! Raise this issue with your federal representative.
Vote for a candidate who supports a thermal coal export ban.
Sincerely,
Carol E, Toronto
Dear editor,
Love has been my prime motivator for all that I hold dear. As a mom, grandma, wife, retired nurse and activist, it is shocking that science has been ignored on the harms of fossil fuels. The recent sobering news on climate from the IPCC has felt like the largest betrayal to humankind, the planet and to future gens that will be disproportionately affected! The largest players have committed crimes against the earth. Greed has no place in justice. I have felt despair at times, but realized that action is the anecdote. We have the solutions to change to a low-carbon world.
The bottom line is where we put our money, time and energy, in particular the largest culprits of climate-fossil fuels with coal being the dirtiest. Health and safety are being affected by inaction and misplaced values despite expert opinions. Exporting to vulnerable populations furthers the crimes. 800,000 premature deaths occur per year while Canada profits off of inequity and destruction still! Coal toxins must be reduced by 11% per year prior to 2030 or we will not curb global warming from emissions. Thermal coal must be banned yesterday so that we can all take an arduous journey together in better health and joy. We need brave, ambitious, equitable and accountable leadership to turn the story around!
Sincerely,
Erica W, Toronto
Want to send your own letter to your local paper? We’ve created a handy tool that makes it easy to look up the contact info and send. Check it out here.
