The writer of the letter, "Development exacts a cost on Greater Victoria tree cover" (Goldstream Gazette online) makes an excellent point: government failure to protect citizens from the impacts of climate change could come back to "bite them in the bum."
Not only are lawsuits against fossil fuel companies on the rise, so are lawsuits against governments. Here's just two.
In August 2023, 16 Montana youth successfully sued their government, alleging their constitutional rights "to a clean and healthful environment" had been violated by their government's failure to consider the climate impacts of permitting fossil fuel development.
In April this year, a group of 2,000 elderly Swiss women won a ruling that found their government's climate inaction put them at risk of dying during heatwaves.
Rising greenhouse gases ensure future and more frequent heatwaves. Continued oil and gas expansion accelerates global warming. A spill from a bitumen-carrying tanker could devastate the Salish Sea. Decimating old-growth forests releases more carbon into the atmosphere. So do wildfires. And prioritizing development over protecting natural assets reduces carbon sinks, and weakens climate resilience.
We need to 'connect the dots' and hold our governments (at all levels) accountable, or face an even more unaffordable future.
Karyn Woodland
Colwood
