Hypocrisy, Plastic and Climate Change
Does shaming your prime minister help the environment?
Justin Trudeau’s government announced a single use plastic ban in June 2019. But then, Trudeau tweeted a photo of him meeting the Papineau Youth Council. An outcry ensued. Plastic cutlery in the photo, center table. The social media curators of the prime minister had a slip up. Does this incidence make Trudeau a hypocrite?
When one thing is said and the polar opposite is done, that’s hypocrisy. But we’re all human and often act differently than we intend to. No one I know of consistently avoids doing things that we know harm the environment. For example, I have met ecology professors who drink Coca Cola (after lecturing on how much garbage the corporation produces). I attend climate marches. Once, to make it after work, I drove to a march.
Even Greta Thunberg got called out for single use plastics on a sandwich she ate on her lunch in Denmark.
When it comes to climate change though, Greta walks the talk more than JT. Greta Thunberg consequentially avoids flying and persistently pressures world leaders to act on climate change. Her inspirational role in combating climate change got termed the Gretha Thunberg Effect. Trudeau, less flatteringly, has “Le pipeline de Justin Trudeau” and #Crudeau going for him. Marking points in JT’s career include buying the Transmountain expansion project from Kinder Morgan and declaring a climate crisis one day to reapprove the controversial pipeline the next.
By investing the money made from the pipeline into a transition to renewable energy, JT believes, the national emissions of Canada will drop overall in the long run. That might be true (with a few caveats).
Building the pipeline maintains the status quo of a powerful fossil fuel industry whose business model hinges on extracting as much oil, gas and coal as possible.
For now, seeing killer whales remains one of the most memorable moments for every visitor to coastal British Columbia lucky enough to see them. The southern residents are the stars of the show because they live where the majority of British Columbians live. But its as simple as this: Increase tanker traffic and the risk of an oil spill and the already threatened populations of southern residents will be tipped over, to the point where they’re gone, forever.
Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA), properly enforced, would stop the pipeline. Getting prior and informed consent from all the First Nations the pipeline’s path crosses would adhere to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) — which Canada signed on to. A spill would adversely, directly impact communities along the route, downstream of it, and all along the coast.
Lastly, we live in a time of climate emergency!
So while the people of the regions still mostly drive oil-combusting cars and work in fossil-fuel dependent industries, it is not hypocritical to oppose the pipeline. We did not choose an economy based on fossil fuel but we are choosing one that transitions to climate justice. As for JT, shame him for trying to force Canada down a heavy emissions trajectory rather than his cutlery.
