Mission Transition: Clean Energy and Beyond

Mission Transition: Clean Energy and Beyond


Bearing the Burden (Season 2, Ep. 5)

June 18, 2019

Over the past few decades, oil and gas companies have fueled and financed the pumping of billions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. They’ve cashed in, but who bears the cost now? Who’s responsible when thousands lose their homes to climate change fueled fires and floods? Who pays when crops fail in droughts? Who’s on the hook when house values plummet in hurricane zones? We're being told it’s up to us as individuals to be responsible for the shift to a climate-friendly world, but is this really fair? 

In this episode, we explore who bears the burden of responsibility for this transition. 

To find out, we speak with Catherine Gauthier of ENvironnement JEUnesse about their class action lawsuit against Canada over climate inaction. We hear from the Mayor of Victoria, Lisa Helps, about the burden on municipalities. And we talk to Anjali Appadurai formerly of West Coast Environmental Law about who’s really responsible, and how personal guilt is not going to help move us forward.

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