Despite the cold, Carleton University’s faculty of arts and social sciences kicked off its first expert panel of the decade with a warm community turnout to talk climate change on Jan. 14.
Starting at 7 p.m., about 150 Ottawans packed into the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre—some even sitting on pews at the sides of the room when all the seats were full—to listen to three social science experts discuss how climate change, sustainability, and urban planning will play a larger role in cities throughout the next decade.
The panel discussion, titled “Climate Change and Sustainability in the City,” was the first event of a five-part series centred around the question: “What defines a healthy city in 2020?”
Dr. Elisabeth Gilmore, a scholar in residence at Environment Canada, addressed the crowd by focusing on resiliency in the face of adversity.
“Sea level rise is already happening and it’s already baked in,” Gilmore said. “Basically, everything that’s going to happen until 2050—it’s already going to happen.”
“It is only after 2050 that we will see the results of our actions,” she added. “It’s about what actions can we take to keep our dignity and keep our agency.”
Gilmore added if society made changes, such as keeping the same climate change mandate through multiple governments, the effects could be significant.
Sheryl-Ann Simpson, a Carleton University professor in geography and environmental studies, said although loss will occur due to climate change, cities can also assess priorities.
Addressing one of her projects, titled #OurChangingClimate, which helped San Francisco Bay-area students experiencing climate change voice their thoughts on social media, Simpson spoke about how important it is for climate change discussion to be inclusive.
“Folks who are being most impacted by climate change are often the least involved and engaged in the conversation around climate change,” Simpson said.
When Simpson asked citizens what was most important to them, she found they valued relationships to their environments.
“It was about places people cared about because they loved [them],” she said.
Simpson concluded that understanding what matters to those most affected by climate change needs to be a crucial part of climate change efforts in the next decade.
“Fish have existed on this planet for nearly 500 million years in one form or another—they survived multiple mass extinctions—but if you look here at Canada, fish have barely survived several hundred years of Southern colonization and genocide,” Todd said. “We’re doing something incredibly wrong.”
In order to mitigate climate change effects for all forms of life, Todd said it is time that Indigenous laws and principles are taken seriously.
“Indigenous people in the world represent five per cent of the world’s population, but protect 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity,” Todd said. “What this indicates to me is that the power and importance of Indigenous law and legal order cannot be understated.”
Todd added non-Indigenous people need to take some responsibility for climate change.
“You cannot be the doctor if you’re the disease,” she said. “Colonizers think they’re the doctor, but you’re the disease.”
Todd closed her statements by noting although the situation is grim, citizens should maintain hope.
“We don’t want to give into this extinction rebellion,” she said. “It was the end for Indigenous people 500 years ago, the end for people all over the world 500 years ago, and yet we’re still here—trying to live our lives based in love.”
Featured image by Jillian Piper.
