It’s my birthday

Liane,

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but it’s my 4,543,000,000th birthday tomorrow. Give or take a few millennia. I stopped counting after the first billion.

For a long time, no one celebrated my birthday. There was no one to celebrate. And the concept of birthdays hadn’t been invented yet.

But now I get a party every year on April 22. It’s so much fun! Everyone gets together and talks about how much they like me and how they want to be nicer to me.

Some people though, especially politicians, make a big fuss over me on my special day and then ignore me for the rest of the year.

Tomorrow, your Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be at the UN in New York to ratify the Paris agreement on climate, trying to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

That’s great, because this climate change business is making me sweat. I’ve had a whole bunch of birthdays where politicians have promised to do better, but things keep getting worse.

I have it on good authority that the federal government will then launch a country-wide public consultation on a national climate strategy through your Members of Parliament. That’s where I need your help.

Will you speak up for me by attending the consultations in your community?

It would be the best birthday present.

My friends at the Council of Canadians and other fantastic organizations have a plan to organize locally and across the country to demand a climate strategy that’s built around three principles:
Scientific: Aligning with climate change science to limit warming to 1.5°C by keeping fossil fuel reserves in the ground and rejecting new pipelines like Energy East and Kinder Morgan.

Renewable: Building a 100% renewable energy economy by 2050, creating over a million clean, safe and rewarding jobs.

Fair: Committing to justice and reconciliation for Indigenous peoples, ensuring no worker is left behind, and taking leadership from those hit hardest by the climate crisis.
But they can’t do it without your help. Can I count on you to speak up for me at the consultations?

Thanks so much for looking out for me, on my birthday and every day.

Your favourite planet,