By Dylana Milobar

Suzuki joins environmental filmmaker for TRU presentation

Mar 8, 2019 | 4:08 PM

KAMLOOPS —Two high-profile environmental science advocates will be making a stop in Kamloops this evening as part of their southern British Columbia tour.

David Suzuki, and Dr. Ian Mauro are working to promote their latest film, Beyond Climate, which addresses many climate-related issues B.C. is currently facing.

“B.C. is an interesting province. It’s a sentinel province in some ways,” Mauro explains. “The impacts of climate change here are amongst the most dramatic in the country and around the world. But it’s also a place where communities are rallying to rise to the challenge of climate change.”

When referring to rising temperatures, Mauro, who is an environmental scientist with the University of Winnipeg, points to summertime in Kamloops. 

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“The doubling of extreme heat that is going to likely come to this area, and the number of plus 30 (degree) days that turn an average summer into 60 days of plus 30 here in Kamloops,” he says. “These are the kinds of futures that we need to start thinking about. So water management, where do you get your water from, how to you maintain water on your site, how do you minimize the impact of water loss?”

The film, which came out in October of 2018, covers a range of topics that have brought out controversy in the public sphere, such as the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. 

“The pipeline is a short term conversation, and it’s an important conversation,” Mauro says. “But we have to get past that and start thinking about what a future is going to look like in the coming decades, and the next hundred years, and what kind of future we’re leaving for our kids and grandkids.”

Suzuki, who narrates the film, covers a variety of areas including pipelines, liquefied natural gas, wild salmon, and Indigenous rights. 

“The power of his (Mauro’s) message came from many of the Indigenous communities who are saying ‘Yes it’s happening and we’ve got to do something, but we’re not going to do it alone’,” Suzuki says. “We’ve all got to come together now.”

According to both Mauro and Suzuki, the Interior and surrounding regions are of particular concern with the recent hard-hitting wildfire-flooding combination.

“One of the important segments is in the Okanagan Valley, where you see the effect on vinters, the vineyards that are growing,” Suzuki explains. “On water situations, the fires, on the fruit it raises. They all say ‘look, climate change is happening.’”

Mauro adds, dealing with those wildfires should not just be left for the provincial and federal government to sort out. 

“There’s no way we can mitigate the extreme fires taking place across this province if we just leave it to the government,” he says. “People have to be in the forests, cleaning up the forests, working together in community to make sure communities aren’t burning down. This is not an option, this is not something that we just rely on other people to sort out for us.”

And on that government involvement note, Suzuki says his focus in the coming months will be encouraging people to take a hard look at who they are voting for.

“His film has come out at a very opportune moment because we’re past quibbling anymore,” Suzuki stresses. “We’re coming up to a federal election October 21, and I believe every single person running for office has got to say climate is our number one issue. And so I hope the film with galvanize people, whoever sees it.”

A screening of Beyond Climate, with a question and answer period will be held tonight at 7:00 p.m from the Campus Activity Centre at Thompson Rivers University.

The next leg of their tour will feature a presentation and screening at the University of Victoria tomorrow evening.