We’re in a Climate Emergency: Let’s call it that and act

By Tara Ehrcke, CASJ Environmental Justice Action Group and Victoria teacher

Adapted from an article appearing in the June 2019 edition of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association publication The Advocate I t is no wonder that students and youth are feeling immense stress and anxiety related to climate change. It is also no wonder they are taking to the streets. As 16-year-old Greta Thunberg has so forcefully pointed out, the one thing that can relieve the depression of the climate news cycle is the emancipatory act of doing something about it. While the student strike movement has taken the lead in putting pressure on society for the type of urgent and massive change required to confront the climate emergency, it is time for us adults to get on board.

The question is more than urgent. We now know, based on scientific consensus from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that even if the commitments from the Paris Agreement were to be met, we are looking at over 3° C of warming in 80 years. This amount of warming would elicit a planetwide economic, environmental, and social catastrophe. This is why the November 2018 report from the IPCC urges warming of no more than 1.5° C in order to limit the climate risks of water scarcity, fisheries decline, animal and insect habitat loss, and extreme heat.

This report also gives us a timeframe. Ten years remain to complete a massive transformation of how we organize our economy, transportation systems, infrastructure, buildings, land use, and energy sources. The report calls for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by one-half by the year 2030, net-zero emissions by 2050, and net-negative emissions in the second half of the century. This is a significant acceleration from the targets set out in the Paris Agreement.

In the last year, we have seen municipalities and even entire countries—the United Kingdom, Ireland, and, more recently, Canada— declare a climate emergency. It is time for school districts to do the same. We need every governing authority at every level to be part of this mass transformational change.

Many school districts in BC have climate action plans, but they are woefully inadequate for the task ahead. Most rely heavily on purchasing carbon offsets to achieve carbon neutrality. The IPCC, however, has told us that we need to meet the reduction targets and then implement substantial offsets as well. We cannot use offsets to replace reductions; we need them both. This is what is necessary to be in alignment with the current IPCC targets.

In addition, school district emissions are underestimated. For example, the emissions accounting includes school bus fleets but not emissions produced when children are driven to school. Yet school boards have direct influence over parental driving patterns by setting boundary catchments and are in the best position, in co-operation with municipalities, to offer alternative transportation. Even with the shortcomings of the current planning and reporting systems, based on what is reported, school districts do not all have specific targets and are far behind the necessary timelines to meet reductions required for a 1.5° C world.

Given the dire statistics, the message is clear: We need to act, and we need to act now. It is time for every school district in BC to declare a climate emergency. With these declarations in place, school districts will then be ready to seek public, stakeholder, and staff input to develop emergency action plans.

In June 2019, members of the group Parents 4 Climate!, under the leadership of Victoria teacher and climate activist Tara Ehrcke, were successful in their campaign to convince the Greater Victoria School Board to declare a climate emergency. In making this declaration, the school board committed to developing and implementing a climate change action plan that would include strategies to decrease schools’ greenhouse gas emissions in line with the recommendations from the IPCC. The board also agreed to encourage other school districts and government agencies to develop similar action plans. Victoria was the first school board in the province to declare a climate emergency, but several other school boards and municipal governments have followed their lead and made similar declarations. At the time this article was written, six school boards and 30 municipal governments in the province had declared a climate emergency. For an updated list, visit the Climate Emergency Declaration and Mobilisation in Action (CEDAMIA) website. It took time, patience, and planning to achieve this goal. Ehrcke was able to access release time to develop and implement a plan to advocate for a climate emergency declaration through funding from a BCTF Local Social Justice Grant. See the full 12-step plan on the Environmental Justice Policies page of the BCTF website.