The week started well. On Monday, the Trudeau government officially joined the fight against plastic pollution. It announced a move towards banning single-use plastics*. But next week, this very same government will likely announce it is approving the Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline — again!
Ironic, isn’t it?
As much as we welcome the move to put the process in motion to ban single-use plastics, we fail to see the logic in the federal government’s environmental plan.
On one hand, acting now to ban the most problematic and unnecessary plastics can set us on a better course.
On the other, the federal government will most likely give the green light for the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline — regardless of last year’s historic legal wins in court upholding Indigenous rights and supporting environmental groups.
Endangered Southern Resident Orcas still face the risk of extinction from the sevenfold increase in tanker traffic this pipeline would cause, while numerous First Nations remain opposed to the pipeline which would cut through their territories.
It’s all interconnected… the dirty fossil fuels extracted with pipelines are used to make the plastic that accumulates in our landfills. Both are important sources of pollution and ultimately contributors to climate change.
And the climate crisis is only worsening every day. Wildfires are raging, communities are flooding, and dozens of cities across Canada have declared a state of climate emergency.
Is that ironic…or tragic?
Now we need you to break the Internet with your creativity, to expose how the federal government is totally out of line with this pipeline. Create your best memes and share them with this hashtag #NOPipeline
Here is some inspiration to get you started!
You can create your images your own image here: Meme Generator or Canva.
* The government proposed nationwide extended producer responsibility programs to make plastic producers pay for the waste they produce.
