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Environment, Energy and Economies - A Canadian Primer: INTRODUCTION - Ray Hamm

The climate, OUR climate, - the only one we have, is changing. This is very important  in our world, in this home for the human family, in this home for our grandchildren. This is large and complicated, about environment, energy and the economy. Understanding some of this can help us take care of Mother Earth.


We are all in this together, being affected by it, reducing it or adapting to it - oil sands worker, activist on the street and all in between. Share the load, minimize the disruptions, at all levels - in families, cities and towns, provinces and country, and even globally. Take care of one another.


For the children and youth, for the children of tomorrow, we need to do everything we can for stability and security. Think about this at every level, from families to countries and more, fitting into a larger pattern. Seldom does trouble stay in only one corner of a lifeboat. Flatten the curve. We can reduce and slow the change. Act together, locally and globally, to flatten and reduce the curve. Climate change, and the impacts, do not recognize nations or boundaries. Border closing does not help for this. We are all on the same street.


The goal is wholeness and wellbeing for all people AND for the Earth. The goal is right living and freedom for us AND for the children seven generations from now. Meteorologists and other scientists see significant differences between current weather climate patterns (one degree rise in average above 1880’s) and what the pattern might be with a 1.5 degree rise. There would be further significant steps with a 2 degree rise in average temperature. 


“The times, they are a changing” by Bob Dylan, from the 1960’s, speaks loudly today.

Sometimes Nature changes slowly. Sometimes things in Nature seem sudden and dramatic.

Consider water lilies in a pond. Suppose the water lilies double in size, in number, every day. In 30 days the surface of the pond is completely covered. On which day is the pond half covered, still half clear?   Optimists must be careful here.


We are uncertain about how all the impacts of climate change will come, but it has begun. We can decrease the amount of change and the pace of the change.



ACAN seeks to educate and inspire sustainable practices in our community.

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