Letters to The Province, Oct. 8, 2021: We can't have healthy communities without respecting and protecting environment
June 30, 2021
We, allergists and immunologists of British Columbia, working on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Indigenous peoples, want to raise our imperative concerns about the climate crisis including global warming, glacier melting, with rising sea levels, air pollution, water shortages, drought, floods, forest fires and zoonotic infections which have caused major damage and disruption.
According to American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, many allergists have reported a wide range of health effects from climate change on their patients, including, but not limited to, air pollution-related increases in severity of chronic diseases, increased allergic symptoms, and injuries and death due to severe weather. The extreme heat in British Columbia this past week has claimed the lives of over 300 people.
Based on a report from Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, warmer temperatures have caused allergy season in the US to be significantly longer. Warmer temperatures also create more pollens in the air, stronger airborne allergens and therefore increased allergy and respiratory symptoms.
As physicians, we know that we cannot have healthy communities without respecting and protecting the environment.
Based on the Paris Agreement in 2015, Canada committed to decreasing greenhouse emission.
The report from Environment and Climate Change Canada shows that greenhouse emission in Canada increased between 2015 and 2019, from 723 to 730 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent. At the same time period there was over 10% reduction in CO2 emission in the UK. This alone shows that Canada has not done enough in addressing global warming. More than six years into the Paris Agreement, Canada has not even submitted the 2020 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) which was due in February 2020. The delay was blamed on the pandemic. The reality is that the climate crisis is as real as the pandemic and could be even more catastrophic if not addressed immediately.
We are asking the Canadian government to be committed to the Paris Agreement by setting clear pathways and targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We agree with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment which suggests an independent body of scientific experts who report to the parliament is needed to audit the alignment of the government policy with climate goals.
Canada must quickly progress towards using clean, renewable energy, ban new fossil energy development including fracking, and instead invest in renewable energy infrastructure. Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland have banned or suspended fracking. This should be expanded to the rest of the country. Pipeline expansions should be cancelled.
Fracking and crude oil pipelines harm the environment by contaminating our farmland, using and contaminating excessive amounts of water, causing earthquakes and advancing global warming by releasing methane gas. Such operations also threaten wildlife and disturb natural ecosystems by industrialization. Such effects have already impaired wildlife and if not stopped will negatively and significantly impact human lives.
We are demanding the government of Canada and the government of British Columbia to stop fossil fuel subsidies and instead invest in clean energy.
As settlers on unceded land, we have a duty to uphold this land to the same standard of care and respect as the Indigenous peoples who originally resided and who still reside and protect this land, water, and animals.
In solidarity,
Dr. Mandana Kaviani, living and working on the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam),
Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations
Dr. Bahar Torabi, living and working on the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam),
Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations
Dr. Raymond Mak, living and working on the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam),
Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations
Dr. Edward Coates living on the territory of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations
Dr. Peter Stepaniuk, living and working on the territories of the Qayqayt, xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), and Coast Salish Nations
Dr. Seung Kim, Living and Working on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Sto:Lo First Nations
Dr. Tim Takaro, working on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Qayqayt and Kwikwetlem First Nations
Dr. Angeliki Barlas, living and working on the territories of the šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam), S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations
Dr. Edmond Chan, living and working on the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations
Dr. Amin Kanani, living and working on the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations, and Coast Salish Nation
Dr. H.C. George Wong, living and working on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations
Dr. Victoria E. Cook, living and working on the territories of the Lekwungen, WSÁNEĆ and Wyomilth peoples of the Coast Salish Nation
Dr. Kingsley Lee, living and working on the territories of the Lekwungen, Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples
Dr. Hasan Kular, living and working on the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations, and Coast Salish People
Dr. Vaishaali Manga Datta, working on the territory of Sah-wa-sen (Tsawwassen First Nation)
Dr. Stephanie C. Erdle, living and working on the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations
Dr. Sara Leo, living and working on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil- Waututh First Nations
Dr. Siobhan Perkins, living and working on the territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, specifically Semiahmoo, Katzie, Kwantlen and Tsawwassen First Nations
Dr. Joyce Yu, living and working on the traditional territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Semiahmoo, and Kwantlen Nations
Dr. Shamim Wadiwalla, living and working on the territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation
Dr. Manbir Sandhu, living and working on the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations
Dr. Tiffany Wong, living and working on the territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations
Posted on theprovince.com | Oct 07, 2021
https://theprovince.com/opinion/letters-to-the-province-oct-8-2021-we-cant-have-healthy-communities-without-respecting-and-protecting-environment