An Open Letter to the US of America
When California was on hearth, Canada despatched water bombers to assist. When our nation is burning… You despatched us a grievance letter. America, we have to speak.
Pricey United States Congress,
Thanks a lot on your deeply involved letter about our wildfires “ruining your summer season.” Really touching.
We apologize that our forests, after a long time of document warmth, drought, and company deforestation (a few of it by your individual timber giants), had the audacity to catch hearth and interrupt your BBQs and lake weekends.
However because you’re so involved, let’s evaluation the scoreboard:
When California was engulfed in flames, Canada despatched water bombers. No letter. No whining. Simply assist. As a result of that’s what mates do.
We routinely ship extremely skilled Canadian firefighters to California, Oregon, and Washington when your forests are burning down quicker than a rant out of your president. We don’t ship a letter complaining concerning the smog drifting north, we ship assist.
When your hospitals had been overwhelmed and out of PPE throughout the pandemic, we shipped masks and gloves south. On the similar time, Trump threatened to chop us off. No letter. Simply assist.
When 9/11 occurred, we took in 33,000 stranded passengers and fed them in Gander, Newfoundland. We didn’t ship a letter complaining about our tourism season. We opened our doorways. You may strive it someday as a substitute of burning the planet for marketing campaign money.
In the meantime, you ship us… a letter.
You write with concern about your “means to go exterior and safely breathe.” We’re involved about that too. We’ve been involved for many years as your companies have belched extra carbon into our shared ambiance than virtually another nation on Earth. You lecture us about “energetic forest administration” whereas concurrently gutting your individual environmental protections and subsidizing the very fossil gas trade that’s setting our planet on hearth.
All of the whereas, we’re truly investing in inexperienced power to stop these fires earlier than they begin. You may strive it someday as a substitute of burning the planet for marketing campaign money.
You wish to speak about what’s “ruining the summer season”? Let’s speak concerning the uncooked sewage and industrial waste you’ve been dumping into the Nice Lakes for a century. Let’s speak concerning the invasive species that hitch a journey in your ships and decimate our ecosystems. Let’s speak concerning the acid rain out of your factories that has poisoned our lakes and forests for generations.
Oh, and let’s speak about that “out of doors recreation” you’re so anxious about. You recognize, the identical outside you’ve been paving over with pipelines, fracking, and oil rigs. The identical air you’ve been fortunately polluting for many years, accelerating the local weather disaster that makes these wildfires worse.
Your letter mentions arson, however conveniently ignores the first accelerant for these fires: local weather change. A disaster you may have actively lobbied to disregard.
So please, spare us the lecture. Don’t you dare complain concerning the smoke in your sky when you may have helped construct the fireplace.
You accuse us of “an absence of forest administration”? Please. Our forests are twice the dimensions of the state of Texas. And guess what? We didn’t spend a long time denying local weather change whereas burning coal prefer it was going out of favor.
We Canadians love our summers, too. We additionally love with the ability to breathe. However most of all, we worth friendship and reciprocity. Issues which might be clearly in brief provide south of the border lately. Actual mates present up with buckets, not grievance letters.
In the event you’re so determined for recent air, perhaps cease voting for politicians who assume the one inexperienced coverage price supporting is the colour of their marketing campaign donations.
As an alternative of sending snarky letters, how about sending hearth crews? Or perhaps as a substitute of funneling your big protection price range into extra tanks, border partitions, and that Large Lovely Invoice price range that props up ICE and billionaires, you possibly can assist combat precise international threats. Like local weather change?
Subsequent time there’s a disaster, perhaps look within the mirror earlier than you look north.
With all of the well mannered Canadian sincerity we will muster,
Canada and The Planet D
Need to signal this letter too?
Go away a remark under with:“Signed, [Your Name]” (and be at liberty so as to add the place you’re from!)
Let’s present that actual mates present up with buckets, not grievance letters.