The Sensible Environmentalist

Guest: Mark Jaccard

By Stuart McNish

“We are all capable of believing things we know to be untrue…the only check on it is that sooner or later, a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield,” wrote George Orwell. It’s a quote that opens Mark Jaccard’s book, “The Citizen’s Guide to Climate Success: Overcoming Myths that Hinder Progress.”

“The conversation about energy production in Canada is in transition and we need to  focus on the truth rather than the myths,” says Mark Jaccard, the Chair and CEO of the British Columbia Utilities Commission. His concerns about truth and myth come as a reversal of political policies led to the freezing or elimination of the carbon tax federally and provincially. 

“Societal interest in climate change is cyclical,” says Jaccard. He continues, “So, too, is political interest.” The realities of carbon concentration increases and the impacts of it run headlong into competing political and economic interests – myths propagated by climate activists and industry public relations campaigns cloud the debate with exaggerations that inhibit meaningful measures to meet climate and economic challenges.

We invited Mark Jaccard, the author of “The Citizen’s Guide to Climate Success: Overcoming Myths that Hinder Progress” and the Chair and CEO of the BC Utilities Commission, to join us for a Conversation That Matters about finding a path to open dialogue and realistic strategies to address our climate challenges.

You can see the interview here https://www.conversationsthatmatter.ca/