The Green Party has lost the plot. Instead of identity politics, the party should focus on our global ecological crises

Authored by thestar.com and submitted by TheRedTourist
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As a co-founder and first leader of the Green Party of Canada, it has been distressing to see the party tearing itself apart over the Palestine-Israel conflict amidst allegations of sexism, racism, anti-Semitism and even anti-Zionism. (What Zionism has to do with Green politics in Canada I cannot imagine, even though I am Jewish by birth.) As I said in a recent interview with the Toronto Star, it seems to me the party, or some segments of it, have lost the plot.

Because we are faced with an accelerating and interlocking set of global ecological crises, of which climate change is but one, and to which Canada is a disproportionately large contributor. Just how bad are things, you ask? Well, in an important but under-reported speech on “The State of the Planet” in December 2020, UN Secretary-General António Guterres had this to say: “the state of the planet is broken. Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal.”

Evidence of that war is everywhere. There is growing concern amongst leading climate and Earth system scientists that we may be approaching climate tipping points, which could trigger a rapidly accelerating cascade of changes with dire consequences — not only for humans, but for entire ecosystems.

In addition to the climate crisis, we have created a biodiversity crisis, with dramatic declines in vertebrate populations (68 per cent, globally, since 1970) and accelerating species extinctions, as well as widespread pollution (conservatively estimated to kill nine million people globally every year) and growing depletion of forests, fisheries, soils and other key resources.

As to Canada’s disproportionate impact, consider that we have one of the largest ecological footprints (EF) in the world; if the rest of the world lived as we do, we would need nearly four additional planets to meet our demands. In fact, it’s probably worse than that, because while the EF does include carbon emissions (about 60 per cent of the consumption footprint globally and 64 per cent in Canada) it does not include species extinctions and some forms of pollution, which are not measurable in terms of bioproductive land use.

The Green Party was established precisely to address this situation, and it is — or should be — the focus of the party and the thing that most clearly sets it apart from the others. Instead, it is showing itself to be much like the other parties, focused on and riven by disputes over gender, race and other forms of identity politics.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying these issues, and the widespread social injustice that results, are unimportant — far from it. As a public health physician, I am only too aware of the health inequalities that result from the unequal distribution of power, wealth and resources, both globally and locally.

The global and Canadian changes noted above will increase inequality, pushing many disadvantaged people in Canada and around the world over the edge, unless the transition — in fact the societal transformation — is managed with social justice as a central principle. But the Green Party, uniquely among the parties, must recognize that social justice is about much more than racial or gender equity, and includes both intergenerational and interspecies justice.

Only the Green Party has been willing to face up to the scale and profundity of this eco-social crisis and propose sensible and just ways forward. The Green Party must focus all its efforts on an agenda to make Canada a ‘One Planet’ country. By that I mean that Canada needs to rapidly reduce its ecological footprint by almost 80 per cent, so that we take only our fair share of the Earth’s biocapacity and resources, remembering the needs of other species. That requires a massive social and economic shift, a just transformation of society rooted in a profound shift in values.

Secretary-General Guterres also threw down a challenge: “Let’s be clear: human activities are at the root of our descent towards chaos. But that means human action can help solve it.” As he concluded, “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century. It must be the top, top priority for everyone, everywhere.” And that includes Canada, and especially Canada’s Green Party.

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Dr. Trevor Hancock is a public health physician and was the first leader of the Green Party of Canada in the 1980s, running in the 1984 election that established the Greens as a party in Canada.

rivierafrank on July 11st, 2021 at 20:58 UTC »

green party is a disaster

I WANT TO VOTE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, but I sure as hell ain't voting green

Shirochan404 on July 11st, 2021 at 16:18 UTC »

Paul is going to get the boot soon, she's lost control of her party

quentinp on July 11st, 2021 at 15:53 UTC »

I think identity politics are handy issues for both sides to use against each other while ignoring problems that cost money and affect everyone. Like let's cause a big stink about X and get people focused on that, instead of like making sure you have somewhere to live and the healthcare system won't fail if too many people actually need to use it.