IT’S GREED, INDEED!

Hanns F Skoutajan

“There is strength in numbers.” That was the message that the Sunday

School teacher illustrated to the children at a recent service.

About a dozen or more youngsters gathered around her on the chancel

steps in the presence of the congregation. I often feel that the parents and

other worshippers, let alone the children, learn more from this “teaching

moment” than they do from the sermon to follow.

On this occasion the teacher reached into a bag and brought out a pencil.

She handed the pencil to one of the younger children and asked her to

break it. The child looked a bit startled, she was usually admonished not to

do this destructive deed. Nevertheless, with all her strength she bent and

broke it into two pieces. Once more the teacher reached into her bag and

this time brought out a bundle of six pencils held together by an elastic. The

teacher now gave the pencils to an older, bigger, stronger child. He applied

his power to the task but try as he might he could not break the collected

pencils. The combined pencils successfully resisted him.

It was, of course, a simple illustration that there is strength in numbers -

simple but not simplistic. It is a lesson that will be well remembered by all.

The news that day had to do with the massive protest marches that were

taking place in New York, Toronto, Vancouver and many other places

throughout the world. Their message was loud and clear calling on

governments and industry to curb the activities that cause global warming.

The huge rally in Manhattan came auspiciously a day before the UN

Climate Summit, a gathering that our own prime minister decided not to

attend. Instead he sent Leona Aglukkaq, minister for the environment in the

Harper cabinet who spoke to a sparse audience at the UN and never

mentioned the word “oil.”

There was a time when Canadians could point accusingly at other

countries for their infractions of human rights, the production of weapons of

mass destruction and invasion of sovereign territory of neighouring states

as well as environmental pollution. Evil was always remote from our

borders. Today the citizens of this Peaceable Kingdom no longer have that

luxury inasmuch as we have become the producers of significant amounts

of greenhouse gases. We, courtesy of Fort MacMurray, are now in the big

league of polluters. Not only the mining but the transporting of the bitumen,

is a risky business. At the end of the line this fossil fuel is sold to be burned

to produce energy and thus add further to the smog that hangs over such

countries as China and India. The once beautiful Gaia that the first

astronauts beheld from outer space has become besmirched with pollution.

Numerous pipelines are on the planning boards to be built to transport

Alberta’s bitumen south via the Keystone XL conduit, awaiting Obama’s

approval, or west over the mountains by way of the Northern Gateway to

Kitimat from whence it is to be shipped by supertankers through the

precarious passages to the Pacific ocean. The construction of this pipeline

has been vigorously opposed by First Nation People who feel that their

native lands are being violated. Oil spills would have devastating affects on

the pristine wilderness.

I have recently been reading This Changes Everything in which Naomi

Klein Illustrates and makes the case against the corporate invasion of the

world’s ecology. She documents the assault being made on this globe, and

it is, indeed, global in extent. Bill McKibben whom she quotes frequently,

who is one of the most outspoke leaders against global ecological

degradation, made the point that the petroleum industry has enormous

financial resources but the people have the numbers as has been shown in

recent demonstrations.

Our prime minister prides himself on the free trade deals that he has been

able to sign, with Europe and the Orient. This, he maintains, will bring

significant investments to Canada which will translate into jobs and wealth

that will make Canada a truly extractive giant.

Free trade agreements beginning with NAFTA and the MAI have included

what is known as Chapter 11, a provision that allows corporations to sue

foreign governments that dare to pass legislation to protect their

environment to the detriment of the investors. It is a totally undemocratic

arrangement inasmuch as it rudely overruns the wishes of citizens in favour

of the multinational corporations. The judicial process is carried out in

courts over which the country affected has no control.

We may recall the Doomsday Clock, a count down to a possible politically

related global catastrophe, such as a nuclear war that would bring

civilization to an end. However, today, there is a different doomsday threat

as the amount of CO2 emissions climbs ever higher moving the world ever

closer to a point of no return at which global warming takes on a life of its

own and human technology no longer has the power to reverse it. Already

we are witnessing changing weather patterns, to wit: storms, drought,

flooding and other unusual climate experienced also in our own country.

Unfortunately there are still those who remain unconvinced by the

testimony of scientists, who prefer not to believe that which stands in the

way of their ability to make more profits, simply put, their greed.

Yet, as is evident, all over the world more and more people are deeply

concerned where this “economic development” is leading us. It is

undoubtedly the most important issue facing the people of the world. Ban

Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, has stated that,

“Climate change is the defining issue of our time. It is not a distant threat. It

is coming and approaching much, much faster than we may think.” As I

looked at the assembled children at church I could not help but wonder

about their future.

It has been stated that there is No Second Chance. Once having destroyed

Nature it is difficult if not impossible to rebuild. Nature can do without us but

we cannot do without it. Nature is not our enemy, although we often treat it

as an entity to be subdued. Rather, we need to treat it as a friend.

Remember the Children’s Moment at my church - individually we can be

broken but together we are strong to resist the forces of greed. The

catchword of our time is: UNITE!

Spirit Quest 28/09/2014

PS: This just in and Three Cheers!

BERLIN, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Germany will not sign a trade pact

between Canada and the European Union unless an investment

protection clause allowing companies to take cross-border legal action

against governments is scrapped, Germany's economy minister said

on Thursday.