The notion that climate change activists should not support Canada’s Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMX) project is absurd. Any logical environmentalist will understand the important role oil and gas energy plays in our world today, and will push forth better, more environmental practices of production.
Our dependence on oil and gas today is inevitable. If every country that exports this form of energy halted production, our world would quite literally stop.
Our dependence on oil and gas for transportation alone is a prime example of this. Think of how many people wouldn’t be able to heat their homes, or cook their food, without electricity that fuel oil and gas provide. Even the most dedicated environmentalists would probably have an extremely rough time surviving without oil and gas energy.
Although other forms of renewable energy exist, they are not readily available for public use, and are also quite expensive. Burning fossil fuels is currently among the cheapest, most accessible forms of energy.
While it eventually needs to be phased out and replaced with clean energy, it is not something that will happen overnight. Even some of the most vigorous climate action plans have estimated it will take approximately another 10 years until Canada is independent of fossil fuel energy. During those 10 years, Canadians will continue to use oil and gas for everyday purposes.
For this reason, it is crucial that we ensure the oil we pay for is extracted in the most environmentally-sound manner possible.
Currently, with no pipeline, we are paying billions of dollars every year to import foreign oil. Some of these countries have little to no environmental standards, and continuously commit war crimes and violate human rights.
By purchasing their oil, we are supporting these governments and further enabling them to be corrupt. Without a pipeline, not only do we support corruption and countries with no environmental standards, we also deny the international community the choice of purchasing Canadian energy.
Even the most dedicated environmentalists would probably have an extremely rough time surviving without oil and gas energy.
During the next 10 years, when we will be transitioning from using oil and gas to using clean energy, we have an important choice to make. One of our choices is to use responsibly-produced oil, from a country with one of the highest democracy index rankings in the world, such as Canada.
Alternatively, we can choose to not build the pipeline and continue paying billions to corrupt governments whose oil production scarcely adheres to any environmental standards.
The right choice is crystal clear: anyone who wants to support better environmental practices, human rights and democracy will choose to purchase Canadian oil. The economic benefits of exporting our oil internationally are just a nice bonus.
It seems that when the topic of the TMX is brought up, most people will argue from a perspective of whether extracting fossil fuels is harmful to the environment or not.
While the right approach should consider environmental impact, since our reliance on oil and gas for at least the next 10 years is inevitable, let’s ensure we produce and handle it with the best environmental practices.
Given our current situation, producing and exporting our oil locally and internationally is the most effective environmental, democratic and economic choice for the Canadian and global community.
File photo.
