November 21, 2009

The Honourable Jim Prentice
Minister of the Environment
Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
10 Wellington Street, 28th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0H3

Dear Minister:

I listened to your appearance on CBC’s The Current yesterday, and I was appalled. I am writing to ask that you change your approach to climate change before the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.

You spoke of Canada providing leadership in this area, and I can see that you are right. You appear to be working hard to lead other countries in the wrong direction. It was clear that you were trying to shed our own responsibility to change, and delay deadlines until as late as 2050.

In 2050, I will be 77 years old and my children will be living in a world without polar ice caps. I take a tiny drop of comfort in the fact that I will be able to look at them and say, “I wrote letters to politicians, I went to climate change marches, I grew vegetables in the backyard… it just wasn’t enough and we couldn’t make the governments listen.”

You, on the other hand, will have to look at your daughters and say, “I tried to make the tar sands viable.”

On a purely personal level, I don’t know how you sleep at night. On a political level, I am embarrassed to have your representing Canada in Copenhagen.

I would like to suggest that you change your approach to climate change. In fact, I would like to suggest that you resign your position, and tell Mr. Harper that out of respect for your daughters, and their need to live on this planet long after we are gone, you will not be supporting Canada’s current climate change plan.

Sincerely,

Tanya Kyi