Documentary Reflection
August 8, 2023 By: Jared Daumont
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-clean-climate-plan-2018-1.4933083
This article reports on the major climate change plan released in British Columbia in 2018. This plan aimed to reduce BC’s GHG emissions by requiring all new buildings to be net-zero and all new cars to be zero emissions by 2040. Alongside these ambitious goals, officials announced that incentives would be proposed for large industries to reduce emissions. With the LNG project moving forward, the government at the time said it would cut provincial sales tax from building costs for the project, since the project would be overall beneficial to GHG reductions. While these announcements seem fantastic at a first glance, it is clear that this ambition is not met with much solid enforcement. Unfortunately, enforcement of these policies has been evidently low, as it is now 2023 and there have not been many major commitments made.
This article covers a protest organized in 2019 by Extinction Rebellion. The protest aimed to bring awareness to the climate-change and the serious harm that industry causes to the natural environment. Protests, as the article states, arise when those who advocate their message feel unheard when going about the conventional route. This idea is reflected in the documentary “If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front,” when Daniel explains his own frustration with feeling unheard. When people feel ignored, they often resort to “louder” methods. Civil disobedience walks a fine line, as those who fight for a just cause may sometimes go overboard and end up causing harm or disturbance. The key understanding is just that, the difference between disobedience and disturbance, legal and illegal. The success of the Extinction Rebellion protest is not just in the publicity it brings to the topic of climate change, but also how it effectively communicated its message in a non-violent and legal manner. People were not harmed, property was not damaged, and the event organisers even communicated their intentions before hand. It was this careful planning and operation that made the event a success.