“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” –– Charles Dickens, 1859.
Well, I guess nothing has changed. In 1859, during the chaos of the Industrial Revolution, the social changes were traumatic. I believe that we are going through another trauma-inducing “revolution” as we try to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. For me, this trauma is being expressed in Carleton riding as a mental health epidemic, especially among our youth.
I am Gordon Kubanek: a happily married professional engineer, physics teacher, National Defence consultant, beekeeper and writer living on a hobby farm in Kars. I am a “Conservative” Green in that I began my political career in the ’90s with the Reform party. Thus I am a conservative-minded, practical “Greenie” who has demonstrated his commitment by living without fossil fuels.
For me, this election is a referendum on the climate crisis; it is also a referendum on whether or not we will pay attention to the million youth who participated in the recent climate marches. Ten-plus years of reading the Science of Climate Change has convinced me that this is a real threat and that all other issues pale in comparison to the effect it will have on our lives.
I believe that we are going through another trauma-inducing “revolution” as we try to wean ourselves off fossil fuels.
However, I am not pessimistic, for my work with the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome, an environmental think-tank, has taught me that there are a host of practical technological and social options that exist to extract us from the mess we have made. However, for now, I see signs everywhere that the status quo is no longer working for the people in Carleton: whether it be unaffordable housing, never-ending traffic jams, but most especially the mental health/opioid epidemic. Loneliness, the sense of always being judged (driven by social media), and fear of the future (made worse by our inaction on the climate crisis) is driving many young people to suffer from depression, anxiety, anorexia etc. and a general sense that their future will be worse than life today.
They are the canaries in the coal mine telling us that we must change. Change is not an option; if we don’t change we suffer, or we change and reap the benefits. When I was a consultant at the Department of Defence with a colonel friend he taught me the following: The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. It seems that 152 years of Liberal/Conservative rule meets that definition as these parties seem unable to see the suffering of youth caused by their inaction. Fentanyl kills one Canadian every two hours, mental health challenges affect one in five Canadians, and, because of our collective inaction on climate change, a high proportion of youth suffer from eco-anxiety. The status quo is no longer working.
This election, voters across Canada are looking at the Greens seriously for the first time. Perhaps you should too.
Gordon Kubanek , P.Eng. is the Green Party candidate for Carleton.
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