Earth Day: Writer’s festival takes a green turn

Writer’s festival takes a green turn

By MATTHEW HARRISON

for Metro Ottawa

Kyoto? Sorry, but Prime Minister Stephen
Harper doesn’t speak much Japanese
these days, probably because he’s too
busy slashing environmental programs and
scaling back Kyoto Protocol commitments.

But maybe Harper knows this one: sayonara.
It’s Japanese for ‘goodbye’ and if many
of the world’s scientists are correct in their assessment
of global warming, then we don’t
have long to say our farewells.

But maybe they’re wrong?

Not so, says renowned Australian author
and scientist Tim Flannery, in a recent chat
with Metro.

“There is no one in a credible position who
doubts those basic facts. You’ll get plenty of
debate about a particular change in weather
pattern or a decline in a particular species,
but the overall picture is clear,” he says.

Flannery’s recent non-fiction work The
Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the
Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth
delivers a sobering synopsis of the catastrophe
Earth faces if human activity, particularly
our fossil fuel consumption, doesn’t soon
change.

He cites recent devastation to the Arctic’s
ecosystem, starving whales and the disturbing
change to British Columbia’s Cassin’s
Auklets — little sea birds that nest around the
Queen Charlotte Islands.

“They discovered that in its largest colony,
about a million birds, there wasn’t a single
chick raised this year,” he says, citing a decline
in the little bird’s food source.

It’s a sobering thought that, along with the
past year’s devastating weather, makes this
Earth Day particularly significant — at least to
organizers of the Ottawa Writer’s Fest who,
for their spring edition, have gathered some
of the literary world’s most educated writers
to discuss climate change, including Flannery.
“This festival is an opportunity to come together
and ask, ‘What the hell is going on?’”
co-founder and organizer Sean Wilson says of
the festival, which marks its 10th anniversary
this year.

“That’s the great thing … there are no barriers.
It’s an intimate chance to ask questions of
the people who are the best in their fields,
and the dialogue continues on into the night
over beer and good food,” Wilson adds.

While festival-goers may not be debating
the cause of climate change, they most certainly
will discuss solutions.

“Basically this problem is an air pollution
problem and we know how to fix it. Make the
polluters pay. That fixes it every time.

“It’s just a matter of gaining the political
and social will to do that,” Flannery says.

Celebrate this Earth Day on Saturday at the
Ottawa Writer’s Fest at Library and Archives
Canada with Flannery at noon, and authors
Karsten Heuer, Fred Pearce, Wayne Grady, Terry
Glavin, and Elizabeth May throughout the
rest of the day.

For more information, visit writersfest.com
on the Internet.

 

E-mail Metro entertainment writer Matthew Harrison at
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